A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 


T       REV.C.H.RUST       T 


tihrary  of  t:he  ^theological  ^tminaxy 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


PRESENTED  BY 

Miss  Anne  C-.  Turnbull 
Miss  Laura  S.  Turnbull 

BV  3785  .R9  A3  1905 
Rust,  Charles  Herbert,  1869- 
A  church  on  wheels  ;  or,  ter 
years  on  a  chapel  car 


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tCti- 


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JM^  /'/p^ 


A  CHURCH  ON 
WHEELS 


UKV.   C.    II.   Kl'.ST 


(      FEB   ft    1954 


A  CHURCH  ON 
WHEELS 


OR 


®i^n  ^:^ar3Si  on  n  ©l^^iJi^l  ®^r 


By 


L^ 


CHARLES  HERBERT   RUST 


PHILADELPHIA 

Bmerican  JBaptiat  publication  SocicVs 
1905 


Copyright  1905  by  the 
American  Baptist  Publication  Society 


Published  November,  1905 


from  tb«  9«cfett'<  own  prcM 


WHOSE  LOVE  FOR  AND  DEVOTION  TO  HER  GOD  AND 
HER  FAMILY  HAVE  GIVEN  TO  ME  SOME  OF  THE  SWEET- 
EST    AND     LOFTIEST    INSPIRATIONS    OF    MY    LIFE    AND 


Zo  mi?  flRotber 

FOR  AND  DEVOTION  TO  I 
lAVE  GIVEN  TO  ME  SOME  O 
FTIEST     INSPIRATIONS     OF     , 

Zo  m^  Steter 

WHOSE  SPIRIT  OF  PATIENCE  AND  TRUST  DURING  THESE 

YEARS    OF    HER    SUFFERING    HAS    HELPED    ME    TO    BEAR 

ALL  THINGS  AND  ENDURE  ALL  THINGS  AS  1  HAVE  SOUGHT 

TO  LABOR   FOR   MY   MASTER   I   AFFECTIONATELY 

DEDICATE  THIS    STORY   OF  TEN   YEARS 

OF  CHRISTIAN  SERVICE 


PREFACE 


In  response  to  a  request  which  has  come  from 
some  of  my  friends,  I  write  of  God's  leadings  during 
ten  years  of  service  on  "  Glad  Tidings."  Of  neces- 
sity the  personal  pronoun  will  be  often  used  in  this 
story,  but  in  all  humility.  Both  Mrs.  Rust  and  my- 
self ascribe  all  the  glory  for  what  has  been  accom- 
plished to  our  blessed  Lord,  as  he  through  his  Holy 
Spirit  has  used  us  to  help  many  needy  souls  in  the 
great  Northwest.  As  we  have  thought  of  our  own 
weaknesses  and  failings  we  have  stood  amazed  be- 
fore God  as  he  has  so  evidently  blessed  the  truth 
when  sung  and  spoken  by  us. 

After  Paul's  first  missionary  journey  he  returned 
to  Antioch  to  the  church  there  and  rehearsed  all 
the  things  that  God  had  done  (Acts  14  :  27),  so  in 
this  volume  I  shall  endeavor  to  do  the  same,  and 
I  trust  the  reader  will  constantly  remember  that 
this  is  a  story  of  what  God  has  done  through  his 
appointed  agents.     It  is  his  work. 

We  want  the  Christian  public,  and  particularly 
the  Baptist  denomination,  to  know  more  about  the 
chapel  cars.  While  I  am  enthusiastic  over  the  pos- 
sibilities of  this  form  of  Christian  work,  I  would  not 
unwisely  attempt  to  place  it  on  too  high  a  plane, 
but  rather  ask  the  reader  to  calmly  consider  the 

vii 


viii  PREFACE 

facts  regarding  it.  This  is  surely  one  of  the  suc- 
cessful forms  of  evangelistic  service  of  the  twentieth 
century. 

These  pages  have  been  written  during  a  few 
weeks  of  a  very  busy  season,  when  I  have  been 
holding  from  forty  to  fifty  meetings  a  month,  there- 
fore 1  trust  the  reader  will  not  be  too  harsh  in  his 
criticism  of  the  literary  merit  of  this  book.  1  have 
endeavored  to  tell  the  experiences  of  our  ten  years 
of  service  in  simple  language  for  the  purpose  of  en- 
lightening those  who  read,  regarding  the  chapel-car 
movement,  and  with  the  sincere  prayer  that  the 
story  of  these  years  may  encourage  many  a  heart, 
and  help  more  than  one  life  onward  toward  God 
and  righteousness. 

C.  H.  R. 

Minneapolis,  Minn.,  May  31, 1905. 


INTRODUCTION 


The  chapel  car  service  is  a  unique  method  in 
modern  evangelization.  The  cars  have  not  only 
awakened  the  curiosity  and  interest  of  the  people, 
but  for  fourteen  years  have  been  great  engines  for 
good.  They  have  had  the  universal  approval  of 
the  Christian  public.  Their  story  is  a  simple  one. 
The  inceptive  idea  grew  in  the  mind  and  heart  of 
Dr.  Wayland  Hoyt  through  a  visit  in  the  West  with 
his  railroad  brother,  Colgate  Hoyt,  Esq.  Boston 
W.  Smith,  known  as  "  Uncle  Boston,"  with  energy 
and  wisdom  brought  the  idea  to  an  issue  in  the  first 
car,  "Evangel."  From  the  inception  in  1890  until 
now  Uncle  Boston  has  been  the  manager  of  the 
chapel  cars,  and  to  him  the  American  Baptist  Pub- 
lication Society  and  the  denomination  are  greatly 
indebted  for  the  success  of  this  branch  of  service. 
But  God  has  given  the  Society  rare  men  and  women 
as  missionaries  who  have  done  the  most  heroic  work 
in  the  spirit  of  the  Master.  There  are  six  cars  like 
this  one,  "  Glad  Tidings,"  and  the  band  of  workers 
on  these  cars  feel  that  they  are  a  family  ;  they  call 
themselves  "the  Chapel-car  Family."  They  have 
had  frequent  meetings  together  for  consultation  and 
service,  and  the  influences  of  these  meetings  are  a 
perpetual  benediction  in  each  heart.     God  has  put 

ix 


X  INTRODUCTION 

his  seal  upon  the  labors  of  these  his  servants. 
Over  fourteen  thousand  persons  have  professed 
conversion  in  the  car  meetings  since  1891.  Dotting 
the  Southern  and  Western  plains  stand  nearly  one 
hundred  and  fifty  meeting-houses  which  have  grown 
out  of  the  chapel-car  service.  Whole  communities 
have  been  transformed  by  their  evangelistic  meet- 
ings. The  railroads  have  been  most  generous  in 
their  gifts  of  transportation  and  many  other  things 
which  have  made  the  work  successful  ;  the  cars 
have  been  of  great  service  to  railroad  men  in  the 
shops  and  elsewhere. 

Rev.  C.  H.  Rust  and  wife  have  been  ten  years 
in  the  service  of  the  Society  on  the  car  "Glad 
Tidings."  Their  labors  have  been  preeminently 
successful,  and  their  names  are  fragrant  in  the 
West  because  of  their  good  deeds  in  the  Master's 
name.  We  are  glad  to  give  a  God-speed  and  a 
blessing  to  this  little  book  which  records  the  expe- 
riences of  ten  years,  and  pray  that  its  reading  may 
stimulate  many  hearts,  not  only  to  help  this  work 
and  to  aid  the  Society  substantially  to  carry  it 
forward,  but  to  consecrated  service  to  Him  whose 
kingdom  we  seek  to  extend. 

ROBERT  G.  SEYMOUR, 

Missionary  and  Bible  Secretary. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


Rev.  C.  H.  Rust Frontispiece 

Mrs.  C.  H.  Rust 4 

Exterior  of  Car  "Glad  Tidings" 7 

Interior  "  Messenger  of  Peace  " 9 

Car  on  Special  Spur  Track /p 

Ruth  and  Marjorie  Rust 2^ 

"Danger" ^7 

Young  People's  Meeting  at  Car 65 

Railroad  Men  Outside  the  Car 96 

Railroad  Men  Inside  the  Car 10^ 

A  Churchless  Town 755 

Laying  the  Foundation i^g 

Shingling  a  Church     142 

One  of  Our  Chapels 14^ 

Rev.  D.  W.  Hulburt  Holding  up  Corner -post  of 

Church 1^0 

xi 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  ENTERING  THE  CHAPEL-CAR  SERVICE    ....  i 

II.  DEPARTMENT  OF  TRANSPORTATION 12 

III.  DEPARTMENT  OF  DOMESTIC  SCIENCE    ....  22 

IV.  COLPORTAGE  DEPARTMENT 31 

V.  SUNDAY-SCHOOL    AND  YOUNG    PEOPLE'S   DE- 

PARTMENT      45 

VI.  DEPARTMENT  OF  GOOD  LITERATURE     ....    66 

VII.  MUSIC  DEPARTMENT 81 

VIII.  RAILROAD  DEPARTMENT 96 

IX.  RESURRECTION  DEPARTMENT II3 

X.  RURAL  DEPARTMENT 134 

XI.  CO-OPERATION  DEPARTMENT 153 

XII.  WHAT  OF  THE  FUTURE? 164 


XIII 


A  Church  on  Wheels 


ENTERING  THE  CHAPEL-CAR  SERVICE 

PROBABLY  it  will  be  well  for  me  to  introduce 
some  of  my  readers  to  the  origin  of  the  chapel- 
car  movement,  before  I  state  how  Mrs.  Rust 
and  I  came  to  enter  it.  Many  are  very  familiar 
with  the  events  clustering  around  the  inauguration 
of  this  idea  of  having  "churches  on  wheels"  to 
aid  in  modern  evangelistic  efforts. 

Dr.  Wayland  Hoyt,  then  pastor  of  the  First 
Baptist  Church  of  Minneapolis,  was  riding  with 
his  brother,  Mr.  Colgate  Hoyt,  along  a  line  of  rail- 
road in  the  West,  when  he  noted  the  numerous 
small  and  churchless  towns  that  they  passed.  He 
suggested  to  his  brother  that  the  officials  ought  to 
build  a  chapel  car,  /.  e.,  a  car  equipped  as  a  church, 
with  living  rooms  added,  and  allow  it  to  be  side- 
tracked in  the  small  towns  for  religious  meetings. 
The  suggestion  was  acted  upon  very  soon  after, 
and  six  prominent  Baptist  railroad  men  built  the 
first  chapel  car,  really  as  an  experiment,  and 
presented  it  to  the  American  Baptist  Publication 

A  I 


2  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

Society.  Since  then  five  cars  have  been  built  and 
ail  are  now  in  service/ 

No.  I,  "  Evangel,"  is  in  Indian  Territory.  No.  2, 
'*  Emmanuel,"  is  on  the  Pacific  coast.  No.  3,  "  Glad 
Tidings,"  the  one  we  have  charge  of,  is  in  the 
Northwest.  No.  4,  "  Goodwill,"  is  in  Colorado. 
No.  5,  "  Messenger  of  Peace,"  is  in  Missouri,  and 
No.  6,  "  Herald  of  Hope,"  is  in  Michigan. 

I  have  learned  that  previous  to  the  building  of 
our  first  car,  Bishop  Walker,  of  Fargo,  North  Da- 
kota, had  remodeled  a  coach  into  a  chapel  car, 
and  he,  a  devout  and  evangelistic  Episcopalian,  had 
gone  in  it  to  many  towns  on  the  prairies  of  North 
Dakota,  and  given  the  people  in  those  destitute 
places  the  privileges  of  religious  meetings. 

However,  I  understand  that  his  car  has  been 
taken  away  from  railroad  use,  and  is  now  serving 
the  purpose  of  a  little  meeting-house  in  some  town 
in  the  Northwest.  I  have  also  ascertained  that  the 
Greek  Church  has  five  chapel  cars  on  the  great 
Siberian  Railroad.  Whether  they  are  in  continued 
service  or  not  1  am  not  sure. 

In  1892  I  began  my  Christian  ministry  as  pastor's 
assistant  at  the  Warren  Avenue  Baptist  Church, 
Boston,  Mass.  Dr.  Robert  MacDonald,  now  of  the 
Washington  Avenue  Baptist  Church  of  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  was  then  pastor,  and  I  had  delightful  fel- 
lowship with  him  and  his  church  for  about  two 
years.  Mrs.  Rust,  who  was  Miss  Bertha  Smart  at 
this  time,  was  the  Sunday-school  missionary  at  the 

'  At  this  writing,  May,  1905. 


ENTERING  THE  CHAPEL-CAR  SERVICE  3 

Tabernacle  Baptist  Church  of  Boston,  Mass.  We 
were  married  at  the  Tabernacle  Church,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1^3,  Doctor  MacDonald  tying  the  knot,  as 
Doctor  Calley,  her  pastor,  was  sick,  and  Mrs.  Rust 
came  to  help  me  in  my  labors  with  the  Warren 
Avenue  people. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  deacons  which  was  held  the 
following  April  it  was  voted  to  suggest  to  the 
church  that  it  send  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rust  to  the 
May  meetings  at  Saratoga  Springs,  N.  Y.  We 
appreciated  this  very  much  and  enjoyed  a  delayed 
wedding  trip  to  Saratoga.  ' 

Chapel  Car  "Glad  Tidings,"  No.  3,  a  gift  of 
Mr.  Wm.  Hills,  of  New  York,  had  been  in  process 
of  construction  during  the  winter,  and  was  at 
Saratoga  for  dedication.  Well  do  1  remember  our 
first  visit  to  it.  It  was  a  rainy,  dismal  morning,  and, 
of  course,  the  inside  could  not  present  so  cheery  an 
appearance  as  it  would  on  a  sunny  day.  We  found 
Rev.  E.  B.  Edmunds,  the  faithful  Sunday-school  mis- 
sionary from  Wisconsin,  in  charge,  and  he  was 
trying  to  cook  some  oatmeal  for  breakfast  on  a  stove 
that  did  not  seem  to  have  any  heating  power.  As 
we  met  him  he  said,  "  1  have  been  over  an  hour  try- 
ing to  get  a  little  lunch  here."  As  we  passed  out 
at  the  other  door  I  exclaimed,  "Well,  1  rather  pity 
the  missionaries  who  are  to  live  on  that  car."  Little 
did  we  think  that  in  four  months  we  would  be  the 
missionaries  on  that  very  car. 

We  returned  from  the  meetings  to  Boston  and 
started  in  with  our  work  at  Warren  Avenue.    While 


4  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

1  was  leading  the  singing  and  Mrs.  Rust  was  at  the 
piano  at  the  next  Friday  evening  prayer  meeting, 
we  were  surprised  to  see  Mr.  Boston  W.  Smith  and 
Dr.  C.  H.  Spalding  walk  in  and  down  to  the  plat- 
form, where  Doctor  MacDonald  greeted  them. 
Uncle  Boston  had  some  pictures  of  the  chapel  car 
under  his  arm,  and  both  of  them  had  come  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  talking  chapel-car  work.  They 
whispered  to  Doctor  MacDonald  and  soon  I  was 
called  on  to  speak,  the  pastor  requesting  that  I  tell 
the  church  what  parts  of  the  May  meetings  im- 
pressed me  most.  I  arose  and  said  that  foreign 
missions  appealed  to  me  more  than  any  other  work 
which  was  represented  there,  and  next  to  that  came 
the  chapel  car.  Others  spoke,  and  were  followed 
by  Doctor  Spalding  and  Uncle  Boston. 

After  the  meeting  Uncle  Boston,  who  is  now 
General  Manager  of  the  Chapel-car  Work,  came  to 
us  and  said  he  would  like  to  see  us  and  have  a  talk 
the  next  morning.  He  came  to  the  church  study 
first,  and  told  me  he  wanted  to  know  if  we  would 
consider  taking  charge  of  "Glad  Tidings."  I  told 
him  that  we  had  better  walk  to  the  house  and  talk 
it  over  with  Mrs.  Rust.  We  had  a  prayerful  con- 
ference together,  after  which  Uncle  Boston  left  us, 
advising  us  to  consider  it  from  all  points  of  view, 
giving  us  three  months  to  settle  it  in. 

The  last  days  of  the  time  were  fast  going.  It  must 
be  settled.  Mrs.  Rust  went  to  one  room  and  I 
went  to  another.  On  our  knees  we  told  the  Lord 
we   would   go   anywhere   he  would   have   us  go  ; 


Mk.-.  C.  H.  RlST 


Page  4 


ENTERING  THE  CHAPEL-CAR  SERVICE  5 

we  only  wanted  to  be  sure.  One  verse,  Isa.  i  :  19, 
kept  coming  before  me — "  If  ye  be  willing  and 
obedient,  ye  shall  eat  the  good  of  the  land."  We 
came  together  and  expressed  our  mutual  convic- 
tions that  God  wanted  us  to  go  and  that  we  were 
willing.  So  we  wrote  that  we  would  accept  the 
position  of  missionaries  on  "Glad  Tidings,"  and 
plans  were  immediately  made  to  leave  Warren 
Avenue  and  sell  all  of  our  furniture.  We  were 
cosily  situated,  and  the  people  of  Warren  Avenue 
were  very  kind  to  us  and  it  was  hard  to  get  away. 

One  of  the  sweetest  expressions  of  love  that  our 
beloved  Dr.  A.  J.  Gordon  ever  gave  to  us,  one  that 
revealed  the  greatness  of  his  heart  as  he  ever 
sought  to  do  the  little  act  of  kindness  for  those 
whom  he  knew,  and  one  that  has  perfumed  with 
sweet  fragrance  our  entire  work  on  the  chapel  car, 
was  manifested  on  our  last  Sunday  night  in  Boston. 

Doctor  MacDonald  had  asked  me  to  preach  a 
farewell  sermon,  and  we  had  enjoyed  a  pleasant 
after-meeting  with  hundreds  of  our  friends.  We 
were  shaking  hands  and  expressing  our  farewell 
words  to  them,  when  to  my  surprise,  Doctor  Gor- 
don stood  by  us.  He  had  made  the  special  effort 
after  a  busy  Sunday  to  get  to  us  that  he  might  take 
our  hands  and  say  "  God  bless  you."  To  think  of 
his  thoughtfulness  of  us  !  Yet  he  was  always  great 
and  noble  in  ever  putting  forth  his  hand  to  touch  in 
truest  sympathy  and  interest  those  of  us  who  were 
so  small  and  insignificant.  Oh,  how  we  praise  God 
we  ever  met  him  !     We  have  felt  that  hand-shake 


6  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

many  times  since.  We  have  seen  the  kindly  ex- 
pression in  those  eyes  as  he  looked  upon  us  when 
he  pressed  the  hand  and  said  "God  bless  you," 
many  times  in  our  years  of  toil  on  the  chapel  car. 

People  in  Boston  told  us  that  we  could  never  en- 
dure the  blizzards  and  cold  of  the  West.  They 
pictured  the  sufferings  that  we  would  certainly 
have  to  pass  through.  And  I  confess  all  was  very 
dark  to  us,  because  we  had  never  been  west  of 
New  York,  and  while  I  knew  Chicago  and  Minne- 
apolis were  excellent  cities,  yet  what  we  might 
find  west  of  them  frightened  us. 

About  fifty  of  our  Boston  friends,  including  my 
beloved  mother,  came  down  to  the  old  Boston  and 
Albany  station  to  see  us  off.  There  were  a  few 
tears,  but  the  greater  number  were  happy,  and  we 
were  conscious  of  God's  promised  blessing  and  de- 
termined to  follow  where  he  would  lead. 

We  had  a  delightful  trip  to  Chicago,  and  to  our 
great  surprise  the  trip  from  Chicago  to  Minneapolis 
was  made  even  more  delightful,  because  of  the 
pleasant  accommodations  and  beautiful  apartments 
of  that  magnificent  electric-lighted  train  on  the 
Chicago,  Milwaukee,  and  St.  Paul  Railway.  This 
was  the  only  one  then  between  the  Twin  Cities 
and  Chicago,  and  we  had  seen  nothing  in  the  East 
to  compare  with  it. 

Uncle  Boston  met  us  in  Minneapolis  and  piloted 
us  to  his  home,  where  a  cordial  welcome  awaited 
us.  We  immediately  found  other  friends  in  Minne- 
apolis, and  all  whom  we  met  seemed  to  be  anxious 


ENTERING  THE  CHAPEL-CAR  SERVICE  7 

to  make  everything  pleasant  for  us.  I  want  to  say 
to  any  and  all  who  may  read  these  words,  that  it 
always  pays  to  say  "  Yes  "  to  God.  He  is  our 
Friend,  our  Father,  and  it  is  impossible  to  conceive 
of  an  earthly  father  doing  more  for  his  children  than 
our  God  wants  to  do  for  us. 

As  I  look  back  over  these  ten  years  1  am  con- 
scious that  there  has  been  some  hardship,  some 
sacrifices,  some  real  hard  work,  but  the  compensa- 
tions of  the  Holy  Spirit  have  been  rich  and  abun- 
dant, and  God's  blessings,  like  flowers,  have  been 
strewn  along  the  pathway. 

We  had  no  conception  of  what  God  was  leading 
us  into  when  we  said  "  Yes  "  to  him.  In  full  con- 
sciousness of  the  strenuous  life,  of  the  valleys  and 
shadows  and  the  inconvenience  of  being  without  a 
home  for  years,  we  can  honestly  say  that  if  God 
had  revealed  all  that  this  life  was  to  mean  before 
we  started,  we  would  have  said  "Yes"  much 
quicker  than  we  did.  No  amount  of  money  could 
pay  for  the  experiences  of  this  decade  of  years  nor 
take  the  place  of  the  vision  that  God  has  given  to 
me  of  himself,  of  man,  of  what  man  can  be,  and 
of  the  glorious  opportunities  of  Christian  service. 

I  was  anxious  to  go  down  to  the  chapel  car,  and 
therefore  Uncle  Boston  and  I  went  together  to  look 
over  the  church  and  parsonage  in  which  Mrs.  Rust 
and  I  were  to  labor  for  so  many  years,  and  perhaps 
I  had  better  describe  it  for  the  benefit  of  some  of 
my  readers. 

It  is  a  handsome  car  and  is  certainly  a  worthy 


8  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

addition  to  any  train.  It  is  seventy-seven  feet  long 
and  eleven  feet  wide. 

On  the  top  of  the  side  you  could  see  the  words 
"Chapel  Car,"  and  in  the  center  of  the  side  the 
name  "Glad  Tidings,"  both  in  letters  of  gold. 
There  is  an  eaves-trough  on  the  roof  with  hose 
attachment,  so  that  the  water  tanks  can  be  filled 
with  soft  water  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year. 
Under  the  car  you  will  find  boxes  to  hold  thirty- 
five  hundred  pounds  of  coal,  storm  sash  and  screens, 
oil  stove  and  oven,  and  provisions  and  books  and 
tracts.  You  will  also  find  a  ladder  and  a  storm 
door  and  four  screen  doors  hanging  under  the  floor. 

As  you  step  into  the  chapel  you  are  amazed  at 
the  size,  for  there  is  an  audience  room  fifty-two 
feet  long  and  capable  of  seating  more  than  one 
hundred  people.  We  have  often  had  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  children  in  this  room.  The  seats 
are  arranged  for  three  on  one  side  and  two  on  the 
other,  with  a  narrow  aisle  between.  Some  one 
asked  one  of  our  missionaries  why  they  had  it  thus 
arranged  for  three  on  one  side  and  two  on  the  other, 
and  he  answered,  "  Because  they  decided  that  it 
was  easier  to  do  that  than  to  put  two  and  a  half 
on  each  side." 

At  the  other  end  of  the  audience  room  you  would 
see  an  excellent  Estey  organ  (the  Estey  Company 
donating  one  to  each  of  our  cars),  a  beautiful  brass 
lectern,  a  blackboard,  and  a  library  belonging  to 
the  missionary,  and  one  filled  with  books  to  loan  in 
small  towns.     The  aisle  is  carpeted,  rugs  are  on 


ENTERING  THE  CHAPEL-CAR  SERVICE  9 

the  pulpit  platform,  and  the  car  is  wired  for  electric 
lighting,  has  kerosene  lamps,  and  is  now  fitted  with 
an  acetylene  gas  plant. 

As  we  step  from  the  chapel  toward  the  living 
rooms  we  find  ourselves  in  a  miniature  parsonage, 
eighteen  feet  long  and  ten  feet  wide.  In  this  space 
we  have  a  bedroom  with  two  berths,  a  dining  room 
with  table,  a  study  with  typewriter,  desk,  and  li- 
brary, a  kitchen  with  range  and  closet,  an  ice  chest, 
pantry,  wardrobe,  toilet  room,  and  heater  to  heat 
the  entire  car  with. 

The  chapel  car  in  all  its  apartments  could  hardly 
be  improved  upon.  Nothing  is  extravagant,  yet 
everything  substantial.  As  one  general  manager 
of  a  railroad  said  when  he  saw  it,  "  Just  right  for  its 
purpose,"  so  I  exclaimed  more  than  once  as  Uncle 
Boston  led  me  through  it.  Everything  needed  for 
our  comfort  seemed  to  be  there.  Mr.  Wm.  Hills, 
who  gave  the  car,  is  a  member  of  the  Mt.  Morris 
Baptist  Church,  of  New  York  City,  W.  C.  Bit- 
ting, D.  D.,  pastor,  and  how  fitting  and  kind  it  was 
for  this  church  to  pay  for  all  the  interior  fur- 
nishings of  the  car  and  to  promise  to  keep  it  fur- 
nished as  long  as  it  should  be  in  use.  They  have 
done  as  they  agreed,  and  whenever  any  money  has 
been  needed  to  buy  rugs  or  carpets  or  make  in- 
terior improvements,  they  have  gladly  responded 
through  Mrs.  E.  S.  Clinch,  the  treasurer  of  the 
Women's  Society  of  the  church.  Before  leaving  the 
car  upon  my  first  visit  after  arriving  in  Minneapo- 
lis, Uncle  Boston  and  1  kneeled  in  the  little  study 


10  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

and  committed  ourselves  entirely  to  Him,  as  we 
earnestly  prayed  for  God's  blessing  upon  the  la- 
bors of  the  missionaries  who  were  to  work  in  this 
beautiful  church  on  wheels.  We  held  a  reception 
in  the  car  during  the  State  Convention,  which  was 
then  convening  in  the  Emmanuel  Baptist  Church, 
of  Minneapolis,  and  met  many  of  the  prominent 
Baptist  pastors  and  laymen  of  Minnesota. 

We  have  since  learned  that  the  consensus  of 
opinion  among  the  people  was  that  we  would  en- 
dure chapel-car  life  but  a  short  time.  One  Minne- 
apolis pastor  told  a  friend  of  ours  that  it  was  a 
downright  shame  that  the  Publication  Society 
should  allow  two  weak  and  sickly  young  people 
like  us  to  take  charge  of  the  car  and  engage  in  such 
arduous  labor.  I  think  if  he  should  see  us  now, 
with  our  two  children,  he  would  think  that  we  have 
endured  the  work  very  well.  Mrs.  Rust  has  gained 
twenty  pounds  and  I  have  gained  about  fifteen.  It 
isn't  work  that  hurts,  it  is  worry. 

After  the  State  Convention  we  filled  our  chapel- 
car  pantry  with  a  good  stock  of  provisions  and 
started  on  a  short  trip  along  the  Minnesota  division 
of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway,  getting  as  far  north 
as  Crookston,  where  I  am  at  this  minute  as  1  pen 
these  lines,  just  ten  years  and  two  months  after. 

That  first  trip  was  exceedingly  trying.  It  was 
all  new  to  us.  For  a  number  of  days  we  had  been 
sleeping  in  the  car  in  the  Minneapolis  freight  yards 
but  the  switching  engines  made  it  almost  impossible 
to  rest.     We  stopped  at  Brainerd  the   next  week 


ENTERING  THE  CHAPEL-CAR  SERVICE  II 

and  the  switching  engines  bothered  us  much  there. 
Then  the  next  week  we  were  sidetracked  behind 
the  coal  chute  at  Staples,  and  as  they  loaded  the 
engines  about  all  night  we  could  not  sleep  much 
there.  If  this  had  continued  in  every  town  we 
would  have  been  obliged  to  get  a  room  outside,  but 
in  the  small  towns  we  were  not  bothered  much. 
We  returned  to  Minneapolis  after  a  month's  trip  to 
get  the  car  fitted  out  with  storm  windows  for  the 
winter,  and  with  a  consciousness  that  we  had  actu- 
ally begun  a  life  on  the  car  which  was  to  open  up 
many  opportunities  for  service  in  the  Master's  name. 


DEPARTMENT  OF  TRANSPORTATION 

THE  matter  of  transportation  is  very  important 
to  the  success  of  chapel-car  service.  In 
taking  this  up  with  the  railroads  it  necessarily 
brought  us  into  direct  contact  with  the  presidents 
and  officials  of  our  great  Western  railroad  systems, 
and  we  are  glad  to  state  that,  with  rarely  an  ex- 
ception, we  have  found  them  to  be  courteous  gen- 
tlemen, anxious  to  do  the  right  thing  for  their  men, 
for  the  towns  along  their  lines,  and  for  the  general 
public.  We  have  no  sympathy  with  those  who 
think  they  are  shrewd  when  they  attempt  to  get 
the  best  of  a  railroad  company  in  the  matter  of 
transportation.  We  fear  that  much  of  the  dealing 
with  these  companies  which  is  called  smart  is 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  stealing.  While  it  is 
true  that  the  railway  companies  are  far  from  being 
perfect,  yet  they  are  not  soulless  corporations  in 
every  instance,  and  many  of  them  are  headed  by 
conscientious  Christian  gentlemen.  At  times  they 
have  been  deceived  by  some  who  professed  to  be 
right  and  true,  and  it  has  been  our  policy  since  the 
beginning  of  chapel-car  work  to  be  perfectly  frank 
and  honest  with  them.  We  have  asked  them  to 
look  into  our  work  from  every  point  of  view  and 

12 


DEPARTMENT  OF  TRANSPORTATION  1 3 

examine  every  detail  of  service  along  the  line,  giving 
us  no  consideration  that  we  are  not  worthy  of. 

It  is  the  rule  of  the  companies  to  grant  no  passes 
except  for  some  consideration.  If  the  chapel-car 
work  could  not  show  where  it  really  helped  the 
company  and  its  towns  we  were  doomed.  We  are 
glad  to  state  that  the  efficiency  and  benefit  of  the 
service  rendered  through  the  chapel  car  has  been 
almost  universally  acknowledged  in  railroad  circles. 

There  were  many  questions  in  the  minds  of  the 
denomination  when  the  Publication  Society  ac- 
cepted the  first  chapel  car.  It  was  considered  by 
some  to  be  the  result  of  the  dreaming  of  an  im- 
practical mind;  by  others  it  was  styled  a  "white 
elephant,"  by  others  "  Uncle  Boston's  Toy,"  and 
even  the  most  enthusiastic  questioned  its  perma- 
nent usefulness  under  the  most  favorable  condi- 
tions. It  certainly  was  an  experiment.  It  was  one 
thing  to  have  a  car ;  it  was  another  to  get  it  hauled. 
If  it  could  not  be  hauled  at  a  small  sum  per  mile 
how  could  it  be  used  ?  And  when  we  consider  the 
fact  that  the  universal  price  charged  by  railroad 
companies  for  hauling  a  car  is  fifty-four  cents  a 
mile,  and  that  those  who  gave  the  first  car,  al- 
though being  railroad  officials,  would  not  guarantee 
to  use  their  influence  toward  getting  reduced  rates 
for  the  car,  what  could  the  most  sanguine  expect  ? 

Very  fortunately  the  matter  was  placed  in  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Boston  W.  Smith,  of  Minneapolis,  with 
instructions  to  ascertain  what  the  railroad  compa- 
nies would  do.     After  much  prayer  he  took  some 


14  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

pictures  of  the  car  to  the  office  of  the  general  man- 
ager of  one  of  the  great  Western  systems  control- 
ling five  thousand  miles  of  track,  and  after  explain- 
ing the  purpose  of  the  car  and  the  nature  of  the 
work  very  carefully  to  this  man,  asked  him  what 
his  company  could  do  for  it.  After  thinking  it  over 
this  official  pressed  a  button  ;  a  clerk  came  in,  and 
he  told  him  to  issue  a  free  pass  over  all  divisions, 
good  for  Boston  W.  Smith  and  assistant,  and  car 
"  Evangel,"  with  special  instructions  to  trainmen 
to  make  it  as  pleasant  as  possible  for  Mr.  Smith. 

It  was  difficult  for  Uncle  Boston  to  find  words 
with  which  to  express  himself,  as  he  tried  to  thank 
this  general  manager.  As  he  accepted  the  pass 
from  the  clerk,  and  walked  out  of  the  office,  he  was 
overwhelmingly  convinced  that  God's  hand  was  in 
this.  Ever  since  that  day  Mr.  Smith  has  proven 
himself  a  great  help  to  the  entire  chapel-car  move- 
ment by  his  ability  to  talk  with  and  interest  railroad 
officials  in  the  work.  God  alone  knows  how  much 
has  been  accomplished  in  the  matter  of  transpor- 
tation by  his  prayerful,  tactful,  personal  contact 
with  railroad  men.  We  owe  much  to  him.  How- 
ever, each  chapel-car  missionary  has  had  much  to 
do  with  transportation  matters.  It  is  well  for  the 
missionary  to  meet  the  officials  and  know  them  and 
for  them  to  know  him. 

It  is  also  true  that  much  depends  upon  the  per- 
sonal character  of  the  railroad  official  with  whom 
he  is  to  deal.  If  that  man  is  a  conscientious  Chris- 
tian, or  recognizes  the  moral  benefit  derived  from 


DEPARTMENT  OF  TRANSPORTATION  1 5 

Christ's  teachings  being  inculcated  in  the  minds  of 
his  men,  he  will  be  much  more  favorably  impressed 
with  the  chapel  car  than  one  who  has  no  tolerance 
for  religion.  Let  me  add,  however,  that  there  has 
never  been  a  time  previous  to  the  present  when 
railroad  companies  were  so  free  to  recognize  the 
demand  and  need  for  moral  character  among  their 
employees  as  to-day.  They  are  enforcing  rules  re- 
garding drinking  and  frequenting  saloons  that  would 
not  have  been  tolerated  a  few  years  ago.  There- 
fore the  power  of  the  chapel-car  with  their  own 
men  is  more  easily  seen. 

We  must  not  think  that  this  proves  that  all  the 
railroads  of  the  country  have  been  throwing  passes 
into  our  hands  without  being  asked  and  earnestly 
reasoned  with.  We  generally  have  to  work  for 
what  we  get  in  this  world.  I  want  to  state  also 
that  some  railroad  companies  have  not  understood 
what  basis  our  work  stood  on.  I  was  in  the  office 
of  an  official  of  a  very  large  Western  system  not 
long  ago.  During  our  conversation  he  said,  "Why 
you  have  a  great  deal  of  wealth  back  of  your 
chapel  car,  haven't  you  .-'  "  I  answered,  "  No, 
sir.  We  depend  entirely  upon  the  contributions 
from  churches  and  individuals."  "Oh,  yes,"  he 
said,  "  I  recognize  that,  but  there  is  one  particular 
individual,  is  there  not  ?  "  He  believed  that  a  cer- 
tain wealthy  and  prominent  Baptist  was  forwarding 
the  money  to  pay  our  bills,  including  transportation. 

I  remember  taking  two  pictures  of  my  car  and 
calling  at  the  office  of  the  general  manager  of  a 


l6  A  CHURCH   ON   WHEELS 

"system"  whose  main  offices  were  in  St.  Paul, 
Minn.  He  was  not  particularly  cordial  but  was 
gentlemanly  in  his  manner  toward  me.  After 
looking  at  the  pictures,  and  noting  my  request  to 
have  his  company  haul  the  car,  he  turned  toward 
me  and  said  rather  abruptly,  "  I  would  not  have 
that  car  on  my  line  for  three  months  for  any 
amount  of  money."  I  then  said  to  him,  "I  think 
you  misunderstand  my  request  and  the  work  of  the 
car  when  you  answer  in  this  way.  I  appreciate 
the  many  calls  you  have  from  religious  organiza- 
tions for  special  transportation,  and  that  this  at 
first  thought  seems  to  be  an  unreasonable  request, 
as  the  car  might  be  in  the  way  of  traffic  on  your 
line,  but  I  do  not  come  to  you  as  one  who  wants 
something  for  nothing,  but  as  a  man  with  a  reason- 
able and  Christian  business  project  to  present  to 
you,  and,  if  after  explaining  it  more  fully  and 
answering  all  of  your  questions  concerning  it,  you 
can  honestly  say  that  our  work  is  not  worthy 
of  your  consideration,  and  your  company  will  not 
be  benefited  enough  to  pay  for  the  hauling  of  the 
car,  then  I  do  not  want  you  to  grant  me  any  special 
transportation." 

He  called  in  another  official  and  we  had  a  long, 
frank  talk.  I  answered  all  their  questions  the  best 
I  could,  and  told  them  of  our  side-tracking  the  car 
at  the  shops  for  a  noonday  meeting  for  the  railroad 
men.  1  reminded  them  that  the  theatre  and  circus 
cars  stop  at  the  town  to  take  money  out,  and  had, 
many  times  at  least,  a  bad  effect  upon  the  people 


DEPARTMENT  OF  TRANSPORTATION  1 7 

of  the  town  and  the  railroad  men  who  handled  the 
car,  but  we  stopped  in  the  town  to  help  the  people 
morally  and  to  leave  money  there  in  church  build- 
ings, etc.  I  also  told  them  of  the  work  of  the  car 
in  a  new  community  where  there  were  saloons  and 
no  church.  How  we  had  gone  to  towns  like  that 
and  stayed  until  the  whole  moral  atmosphere  of  the 
town  was  changed  and  a  meeting-house  was  erected 
and  paid  for.  Then  I  informed  them  of  our  personal 
touch  with  their  men  along  all  the  line  ;  of  the 
many  railroad  men  whose  lives  had  been  changed 
from  sin  to  righteousness. 

This  general  manager  finally  said,  "  Well,  Mr. 
Rust,  we  will  think  it  over,  and  if  you  will  call  to- 
morrow we  will  see  what  we  can  do  for  you."  I 
thanked  him,  told  him  I  would  call  the  next  day, 
and  after  a  pleasant  farewell  word,  left  the  office. 

I  had  left  the  building  and  was  standing  on  the 
corner  of  the  street  waiting  for  a  car,  when  a  col- 
ored man  stepped  up  to  me.  He  asked  if  I  was  the 
young  man  who  had  been  talking  with  the  general 
manager.  I  answered,  "Yes,  sir."  "Well,"  he 
continued,  "  I  was  behind  a  door  in  the  office  and 
heard  your  talk,  and  I  want  to  tell  you  that  you  will 
git  your  pass  all  right,  never  you  fear ;  now  you 
see  if  you  don't."  His  eye  twinkled,  and  he  re- 
vealed a  fine  set  of  white  teeth  as  he  smiled,  and 
I  confess  that  his  words  made  me  hopeful. 

I  called  the  next  day,  and  sure  enough  the  gen- 
eral manager  gave  me  a  time  pass,  and  as  I  told 
him  to  have  his  men  watch  our  movements  and 

B 


l8  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

work  along  his  line,  he  expressed  a  wish  that  we 
might  be  successful  in  our  undertakings.  Since 
then  he  has  been  very  kind  to  us  and  granted  us 
transportation  many  times  for  special  trips. 

Our  annual  passes  read  in  nearly  every  instance, 
"  Pass  C.  H.  Rust  and  assistant."  These  are  good 
on  any  train,  thus  enabling  me  to  get  home  to  see 
my  loved  ones  without  drawing  on  the  "  mission- 
ary fund."  The  car  is  moved  under  special  orders 
each  time.  Trip  passes  generally  read,  "  Pass  C. 
H.  Rust,  car,  and  party." 

We  are  very  careful  never  to  abuse  our  priv- 
ileges in  any  way.  The  railway  companies  trust 
us,  and  we  surely  want  them  to  continue  to  do  so. 
We  have  had  people  come  to  us  a  number  of  times 
and  ask  if  they  could  not  ride  with  us.  One  man 
wanted  us  to  put  him  under  the  seats.  Our  answer 
is  always  "No." 

We  never  make  any  "demands"  as  to  what 
train  the  car  is  to  be  hauled  on.  The  division  su- 
perintendent decides  which  is  the  most  convenient, 
and  we  acquiesce.  On  long  hauls  we  use  the  pas- 
senger trains  and  on  short  hauls  freight  trains. 

DIFFICULTY 

One  matter  of  transportation  has  bothered  us  con- 
siderably. It  is  the  question  of  how  to  get  side-track 
privileges  for  a  number  of  days  or  weeks  without 
becoming  a  nuisance  to  the  company's  men,  as  they 
are  obliged  to  switch  the  cars  on  the  house  or  in- 
dustry track  every  day,  and  there  isn't  an  extra 


CAI:  (IN    A   SlT,(  I  Al.  SrcK  Tkack 


I'aRe  !♦) 


VdlM.     I'KOI'I.K'S    MKKIIM.    at    I    a  I: 


DEPARTMENT  OF  TRANSPORTATION  I9 

track  to  be  found  in  every  small  town.  The  fact 
of  hauling  the  car  did  not  bother  the  officials  much  ; 
it  was  the  question  of  how  they  could  allow  us  to 
be  on  a  side-track  for  any  great  length  of  time  with- 
out seriously  hindering  them  in  the  prosecution 
of  their  business.  It  is  generally  known  among 
shippers  and  those  who  receive  much  freight,  that 
the  company  charges  two  dollars  for  every  twenty- 
four  hours  after  the  first  forty-eight  hours  that  a 
loaded  box  car  is  left  on  the  track,  and  oftentimes 
ten  dollars  for  a  theatre  or  circus  car.  Thus  you 
see  that  the  railroads  are  very  considerate  to  allow 
us  to  stay  at  all.  It  is  only  because  of  their  desire 
to  do  all  they  can  to  help  on  a  good  cause. 

Noting  this  difficulty  I  conferred  with  the  officials, 
and  asked  them  if  they  could  not  have  their  section 
men  build  a  short  spur  from  the  side-track  and  run 
my  car  on  to  it,  then  swing  the  side-track  back  into 
place  and  leave  the  chapel  car  on  rails  of  its  own, 
out  of  the  way  of  all  traffic. 

In  answer  to  my  request  orders  were  given  to 
have  it  done.  It  costs  the  company  about  eight 
dollars  to  build  the  track  and  take  it  up  again  when 
we  leave  town.  We  have  offered  to  pay  for  it  but 
they  have  never  sent  in  any  bill  yet,  and  they 
have  done  this  for  us  many  times.  This  spur  is 
only  built  when  we  stay  in  a  town  a  long  time, 
in  order  to  erect  a  church  or  make  the  work  per- 
manent. It  certainly  obviates  the  difficulty  and 
makes  it  far  more  pleasant  for  the  missionaries  and 
the  railroad  men. 


20  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

All  of  this  goes  to  show  that  if  the  railroad  com- 
panies understand  what  our  service  really  is  there 
is  hardly  any  limit  to  what  they  will  do  for  us. 
Many,  many  times  they  have  contributed  much 
more  than  transportation  to  the  building  up  of  the 
new  towns  on  their  lines.  They  have  hauled  the 
lumber  for  the  church  buildings  in  carload  lots  free, 
a  number  of  times,  and  in  other  ways  have  shown 
their  interest  in  our  work. 

When  we  stop  to  think  that  for  fifteen  years 
they  have  hauled  our  cars  free,  nearly  fifty  dif- 
ferent railroads  thus  assisting  us,  and  also  realize 
how  much  this  would  have  cost  if  we  had  paid 
mileage  even  at  a  reduced  rate,  I  for  one  feel  pro- 
foundly grateful  to  them,  and  I  know  if  we  could 
get  into  one  mass  meeting  all  of  the  people  in  the 
towns  where  the  chapel  cars  have  visited,  together 
with  the  whole  Baptist  denomination,  they  would 
to  an  individual  arise  to  vote  most  hearty  thanks 
to  these  railroad  corporations.  We  certainly  do 
appreciate  it. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Our  experiences  with  the  railway  companies 
in  this  matter  of  transportation  reveal  much  that 
pleases  us. 

(i)  That  God  is  leading,  (2)  That  the  railway 
companies  are  interested  in  the  moral  welfare  of 
their  employees  and  the  towns  along  the  line, 
(3)  That  the  officials  of  the  companies  recognize  it 
is  a  fair  business  proposition  to  haul  our  cars  free 


DEPARTMENT  OF  TRANSPORTATION  21 

in  consideration  of  the  work  done.  (4)  That  the 
railway  companies  acknowledge  the  power  of  the 
chapel-car  service  in  developing  their  new  towns  in 
the  right  direction.  (5)  That  practical  railway 
men  do  not  deem  our  work  at  all  visionary  or  un- 
practical. (6)  That  many  of  our  great  transporta- 
tion companies  are  manned  by  men  of  character 
and  sterling  worth  who  are  interested  in  every 
good  cause. 


Ill 

DEPARTMENT  OF  DOMESTIC  SCIENCE 

IN  this  department  we  will  endeavor  to  introduce 
our  readers  to  something  of  our  home  life 
while  on  the  chapel  car.  The  parsonage  on 
the  car  is  fitted  up  to  live  in  every  day  as  one  would 
in  a  home  ;  it  is  not  simply  to  travel  in.  We  have 
given  the  size  of  our  apartments.  The  main  living 
room,  which  is  bedroom,  study,  parlor,  and  dining 
room,  has  just  nine  square  feet  of  open  space.  The 
kitchen  is  four  and  one-half  feet  square,  and  in  this 
there  is  a  steel  range,  an  ice  chest,  and  a  china  closet. 
One  will  easily  see  that  the  parsonage  is  compressed 
and  condensed  into  the  smallest  space  possible,  so 
that  the  audience  room  could  be  made  as  large  as 
possible.  Many  times  we  have  had  visitors  from 
cities  come  to  the  car  and  they  have  exclaimed, 
"Oh,  how  romantic,  how  delightful  to  travel  like 
this  !  "  They  have  in  mind  a  trip  of  a  few  days 
rather  than  making  the  car  a  home. 

Nevertheless,  when  we  have  been  side-tracked  in 
some  small  town  in  the  Minnesota  woods  or  on  Da- 
kota prairies,  and  have  seen  how  the  people  are 
obliged  to  live  in  their  small  shanties  and  houses, 
we  have  often  thanked  God  for  the  small  yet  cozy 
quarters  in  our  home  on  wheels. 

22 


DEPARTMENT  OF  DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  23 

At  first  we  found  it  rather  hard  to  adjust  our- 
selves to  the  size  of  our  apartments.  Everything 
seemed  to  be  in  the  way  and  we  were  always  in 
each  other's  way.  We  were  both  liable  to  do 
everything  a  little  too  quickly,  and  this  gave  us  no 
end  of  trouble.  We  found  we  did  not  have  room 
to  jump  from  one  thing  to  another  unless  we  took 
very  short  leaps.  At  the  end  of  the  first  three 
months  we  had  numberless  bruises,  because  of  our 
running  into  sharp  corners  and  things  in  general. 
I  hit  my  knee  on  one  door  jamb,  and  my  head  on 
one  corner  so  often  during  the  first  year  that  I  was 
never  without  either  a  sore  head  or  a  lame  knee. 
Once  when  rushing  from  the  parsonage  to  the 
chapel  I  struck  my  head  so  hard  on  the  small  closet 
near  the  door,  that  I  dropped  to  the  floor  like  a 
felled  ox  and  almost  lost  consciousness.  I  know  it 
was  my  fault,  I  should  not  move  so  quickly.  I  have 
thought  these  accidents  may  have  done  some  good, 
however,  by  rousing  some  lazy  brain  cells  into 
activity. 

I  do  not  want  to  present  any  darker  picture  of 
chapel-car  domestic  life  than  I  ought,  for  we  have 
often  been  exceedingly  grateful  for  our  beautiful 
quarters  in  the  car.  However,  the  parsonage  on 
the  car  could  hardly  be  called  a  home.  It  was 
more  of  a  business  office  for  the  Lord's  busy  mis- 
sionaries. We  had  practically  no  privacy.  A 
woman  would  feel  this  more  than  a  man  perhaps. 
It  was  exceedingly  hard  for  Mrs.  Rust.  We  were 
seldom  allowed  to   be  alone.     Mrs.   Rust  had  no 


24  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

room  or  closet  she  could  call  her  own,  no  dresser 
on  which  to  lay  pins,  ribbons,  and  numerous  other 
belongings.  The  only  place  was  my  desk,  and  I 
needed  that  for  other  things.  She  had  no  rocking- 
chair,  no  sewing  machine,  etc.  It  was  good  dis- 
cipline for  us  and  tested  our  religion.  We  prayed 
for  special  grace  and  wisdom  every  day  in  our  en- 
deavor to  fit  into  the  demands  of  the  place  and 
the  work. 

When  1  think  of  all  that  Mrs.  Rust  was  obliged 
to  pass  through  in  order  to  stay  with  me  on  the 
chapel  car  for  the  first  three  years,  I  feel  thoroughly 
ashamed  of  myself  to  think  that  I  allowed  her  to 
do  it.  I  was  young,  and  perhaps  that  can  partially 
excuse  me  for  my  lack  of  consideration. 

All  mothers  who  read  this  will  appreciate  what  I 
am  about  to  write.  For  the  first  few  months  we 
got  along  very  nicely  ;  the  ordinary  difficulties  en- 
countered in  adjusting  ourselves  to  the  car  home 
and  its  work  did  not  bother  us  much,  but  before 
little  Ruth  came  into  our  lives  Mrs.  Rust  had  much 
to  bear.  The  constant  traveling,  the  meeting  of 
strangers  continually,  and  the  hard  work  in  and 
out  of  the  meetings  made  it  almost  unbearable  for 
her.  In  less  than  two  months  after  the  coming  of 
our  first-born,  Mrs.  Rust  and  Ruth  were  with  me 
in  my  car  work,  part  of  the  time  living  on  the 
car  and  part  of  the  time  in  a  room  outside.  We 
wanted  to  be  together,  but  we  wonder  whether  we 
did  right  or  not.  It  seems  as  if  we  did  not.  The  care 
of  a  child  in  such  close  quarters  was  very  hard  on 


Hum  AND  Mah.iokik  Hi.st 


Page  io 


DEPARTMENT  OF  DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  25 

US  and  was  not  good  for  Ruth.  How  I  ever  wrote 
my  sermons  I  do  not  know.  How  Mrs.  Rust  ever 
endured  the  strain  of  cooking,  caring  for  baby,  and 
helping  in  the  meetings  is  more  than  I  can  explain. 
At  night  Ruth  slept  in  a  hammock  swung  between 
the  berths,  and  Mrs.  Rust  occupied  the  lower,  while 
I  took  the  upper. 

But  this  could  not  go  on  indefinitely.  The 
chapel  car  was  no  place  to  bring  up  children.  So 
we  have  had  a  home  in  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis  for 
the  last  eight  years,  and  the  Publication  Society 
has  allowed  me  enough  extra  money  each  year  to 
permit  my  engaging  any  one  whom  I  may  choose  to 
assist  me.  Mrs.  Rust  has  been  at  home  the  larger 
part  of  the  time,  but  has  assisted  me  on  the  car 
much  and  in  our  meetings  with  city  churches  during 
some  of  the  winter  months. 

My  life  away  from  loved  ones  and  home  has  made 
me  sympathize  with  the  great  host  of  traveling  men. 
There  was  a  time  when  I  could  stay  away  much 
longer  than  I  can  now.  Home  is  dearer  to  me  than 
ever.  I  am  so  glad  I  have  one,  and  that  I  have 
children,  not  only  for  my  own  personal  joy  but  be- 
cause it  helps  me  in  my  work.  I  have  often  said  that 
a  young  man  cannot  preach  as  he  ought  to  until  he  is 
married  and  has  children.  How  can  we  feel  what  a 
father  feels  until  we  are  fathers  ?  Oh,  how  many 
times  I  have  felt  the  great  throbbing  heart  of  my 
heavenly  Father  yearning  for  his  children  erring  in 
sin,  as  I  have  been  conscious  of  my  love  and  anxiety 
for  my  own  little  ones. 


26  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

My  heart  was  wounded  deeply  once  after  return- 
ing from  a  long  trip  to  find  my  ciiild  did  not  i<now 
me.  And  once  again,  when  little  Ruth  met  me  at 
the  door  and  said  soon  after,  "How  long  are  you 
going  to  stay,  papa  ?  "  and  then,  "  When  are  you 
going  home  again  ?  "  She  thought  the  chapel  car 
was  my  real  home  and  I  had  only  come  to  visit  her. 

Home  life  on  the  chapel  car  is  often  disturbed. 
You  never  know  just  what  is  to  happen.  If  the 
car  is  not  on  a  special  spur  of  its  own  it  must  be 
switched  nearly  every  day  and  night.  During  one 
night  last  summer  we  were  switched  five  times,  and 
handled  quite  roughly.  1  remember  that  my  head 
was  severely  banged  against  the  end  of  my  berth. 

The  railroad  men  always  handle  the  car  as 
quietly  as  possible,  but  when  it  is  between  freight 
cars  and  these  cars  must  be  switched,  then  ours 
must  be  handled  with  the  others.  I  would  like  to 
have  some  neat  housewife  who  prides  herself  on 
daintiness,  see  our  refrigerator  after  a  switching 
crew  had  banged  our  car  up  and  down  the  track  for 
a  half-hour.  Such  a  sight.  Milk,  potatoes,  jelly, 
pickles,  all  together.  Do  you  not  think  that  such 
experiences  would  be  conducive  to  the  sweetening 
of  dispositions  ?  This  would  often  occur  when  we 
were  away  from  the  car.  We  would  never  know 
the  exact  moment  when  the  engine  would  couple 
on  so  that  we  could  be  prepared.  I  remember  that 
Ruth  was  sitting  in  my  lap  once  and  the  freight 
train  (they  sometimes  hauled  the  car  on  such  trains) 
stopped  suddenly  and  threw  us  over  against  the 


DEPARTMENT  OF  DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  27 

door  very  hard,  bruising  us  quite  severely.  Once 
the  engine  struck  our  car  with  terrific  force,  and 
the  desk  looked  like  a  great  waste  basket,  only 
worse.  There  was  ink,  mucilage,  envelopes, 
papers,  books,  etc.,  ail  in  a  heap.  These  were 
good  opportunities  to  prove  that  one  can  keep  sweet 
under  the  most  adverse  circumstances. 

Mrs.  Rust  enjoyed  the  same  privileges  about  her 
kitchen  work.  We  were  on  the  end  of  a  long 
freight  train  one  day,  when  she  said,  "  Put  up  the 
table  for  dinner,  please,  we  are  about  ready."  I 
started  to  get  the  table,  when  the  train  gave  a  sud- 
den lurch  and  knocked  me  against  my  desk,  jam- 
ming my  hand,  and  that  dinner  was  sent  from  the 
kitchen  stove,  away  under  the  desk  in  the  library. 
At  another  time  Mrs.  Rust  was  getting  breakfast  on 
an  oil  stove.  I  saw  a  switch  engine  coming,  and 
was  sure  it  was  going  to  strike  hard.  I  rushed  in, 
and  in  Yankee  style  yelled  "  Look  out,  Bertha,  its 
coming."  She  looked  out  the  window  to  see  what 
was  coming,  and  just  then  the  engine  struck  the 
car,  and  away  went  the  entire  breakfast  on  the 
kitchen  floor.     We  lived  on  "force  "  that  morning. 

I  remember  another  occasion  when  Uncle  Boston 
was  with  us,  and  Mrs.  Rust  had  cooked  a  very  nice 
omelet.  We  had  seated  ourselves  at  the  table  and 
Mrs.  Rust  was  about  to  serve  the  omelet,  when  in 
trying  to  turn  quickly  in  that  little  kitchen  she  hit 
her  elbow  against  something,  and  the  dish  being 
overturned  the  omelet  went  to  the  floor.  We  had 
"  dropped  eggs  "  that  morning. 


28  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

But  there  is  another  side  to  this  story  of  the 
chapel-car  parsonage.  We  have  often  been  in 
towns  where  we  could  not  get  a  clean  place  to 
sleep  or  eat.  How  happy  we  were  as  we  occupied 
our  comfortable  berths,  with  springs  and  soft  mat- 
tresses and  no  little  pests  to  bother  us,  and  when 
we  could  sit  down  to  a  table  of  our  own  and  eat  a 
dainty  lunch  or  full  dinner  that  Mrs.  Rust  knows  so 
well  how  to  serve. 

I  will  not  attempt  to  tell  you  how  1  have  fared 
when  Mrs.  Rust  was  not  with  me.  Judging  by  the 
hideous  dreams  that  have  haunted  my  night  slum- 
bers, and  the  dyspeptic  pains  that  have  racked 
my  body,  I  am  conscious  that  the  story  of  my  own 
cooking  would  be  too  sad,  therefore  I  will  leave 
that  out  of  this  treatise  on  domestic  science.  How- 
ever, let  me  add  that  we  have  this  science  in  small 
apartments  nearly  perfected,  and  if  any  newly 
married  young  woman  wants  to  know  how  to  cook 
for  and  manage  her  husband  in  the  smallest  city  flat, 
let  her  write  to  Mrs.  Rust,  and  for  a  small  com- 
pensation she  will  mail  her  rules. 

In  this  chapter  perhaps  I  had  better  tell  how  the 
missionary  cares  for  the  chapel  as  well  as  the  par- 
sonage. We  were  on  a  line  in  Wisconsin  when  the 
division  superintendent  called  on  us.  After  looking 
the  entire  car  over  and  admiring  its  equipment  he 
said,  "  Mr.  Rust,  who  takes  care  of  your  hot  water 
heater  during  the  winter  months  .-*  "  1  answered 
"  The  missionaries,"  And  "  Who  is  janitor  ?  "  he 
inquired.     I  answered,  "The  missionaries."     And 


DEPARTMENT  OF  DOMESTIC   SCIENCE  29 

"Who  does  your  cooking?"  he  still  inquired.  I 
answered,  "  The  missionaries."  "  Why,"  he  said, 
"  do  you  mean  to  say  that  you  have  no  porter  to 
clean  up  or  cook  or  fill  the  lamps  or  wash  the 
floors  ?  "  1  answered  "  No."  He  seemed  amazed, 
for  in  all  the  business  cars  of  the  railroad  they  car- 
ried one  or  two  porters.  The  chapel-car  missionary 
is  expected  to  be  preacher,  singer,  cook,  car- 
cleaner,  janitor,  fireman,  and  anything  else  that 
God  wants  him  to  do.  He  must  be  above  nothing 
— no  task  too  ordinary  for  him. 

When  I  have  an  assistant  on  the  car  he  of  course 
helps  in  all  the  janitor  work.  The  care  of  the 
heater  has  meant  much  anxiety  to  us  during  these 
years,  and  at  first  I  worried  a  great  deal,  as  it  was 
new  to  me  and  I  did  not  understand  the  air-tight 
hot  water  system  of  heating,  and  then  the  railroad 
men  rather  frightened  me.  They  told  me  if  I  had  too 
heavy  a  fire  on  it  would  surely  blow  up,  and  if  it 
should  be  very  cold  weather,  and  I  did  not  have 
fire  enough  on,  the  water  would  not  circulate  fast 
enough,  and  it  would  be  liable  to  freeze  and  the 
heater  would  then  blow  up.  So  between  the  two 
difficulties  with  the  hot  water  I  was  kept  constantly 
in  hot  water. 

I  remember  my  first  March  on  the  car.  We  were 
at  Cooperstown,  North  Dakota.  The  heater  began 
to  bother,  water  did  not  circulate,  and  therefore 
generated  steam.  I  pulled  the  fire  out,  and  as  it 
was  getting  intensely  cold,  decided  to  allow  what 
water  was  in   the   pipes  to  run  out,  but   to  my 


30  A  CHURCH   ON   WHEELS 

dismay  only  a  small  amount  would  flow  out.  The 
railroad  men  tried  to  help  but  we  could  not  get 
it  all  out,  and  as  the  weather  was  twenty-four  be- 
low zero  the  next  morning,  Mrs.  Rust  and  I  were 
awakened  by  bursting  pipes.  I  was  almost  frantic. 
I  thought  it  would  cost  a  large  sum  of  money  to 
repair  them,  and  I  told  Mrs.  Rust  I  was  positively 
sure  that  the  Publication  Society  would  discharge 
me.  We  moved  to  a  room  in  a  near-by  home  and 
the  car  was  sent  to  the  shops.  Much  to  my  sur- 
prise and  greatly  to  my  relief,  the  car  was  soon 
back,  and  they  reported  that  the  damage  was  not 
very  great,  and  no  bill  was  ever  sent  to  the  So- 
ciety. During  the  past  few  years,  however,  I  have 
understood  it  better,  and  have  known  about  what 
to  do  in  an  emergency,  although  it  has  needed 
constant  attention,  and  we  could  not  be  away  over 
night  during  the  cold  weather. 

I  think  that  all  of  my  assistants  will  agree  with 
me  that  the  cleaning  of  the  audience  room  has  at 
times  been  exceedingly  unpleasant.  1  am  sorry  to 
be  obliged  to  write  that  after  meetings  in  some  com- 
munities the  floor  at  the  rear  end  of  the  chapel  has 
been  filthy  with  tobacco  spit.  I  do  not  care  to 
describe  what  hard  work  we  have  had  to  keep  it 
clean.  However,  from  what  some  of  the  mission- 
aries in  the  other  cars  have  told  me,  our  expe- 
riences have  been  nothing  compared  to  theirs.  But 
taking  it  altogether  with  our  mental  labor,  this 
caring  for  the  car  has  been  good  for  us,  as  it  has 
given  us  a  little  exercise  every  day. 


IV 

COLPORTAGE   DEPARTMENT 

THE  territory  in  which  our  chapel  cars  have 
been  used  lies  for  the  most  part  west  of  the 
Mississippi  River,  although  some  work  has 
been  done  in  Wisconsin,  and  we  have  one  car  in 
Michigan.  Our  headquarters  with  "  Glad  Tidings  " 
have  been  in  the  twin  cities,  St.  Paul  and  Minne- 
apolis, and  we  have  used  our  car  in  the  country 
which  is  within  a  radius  of  about  four  hundred 
miles  from  Minneapolis,  thus  taking  in  the  States 
of  North  and  South  Dakota,  Minnesota,  Wisconsin, 
Iowa,  and  Nebraska. 

Some  of  the  readers  of  this  story  are  perfectly 
familiar  with  the  conditions  that  do  exist,  and  have 
existed  in  the  West  for  the  past  twenty-five  or 
fifty  years  ;  others  who  have  lived  in  the  East  all 
their  lives  can  hardly  realize  the  great  need  for  ag- 
gressive pioneer  work  which  has  been  and  is  now 
evident  there.  Seventy-five  years  ago  there  was 
not  one  American  settlement  west  of  Missouri,  and 
Chicago,  the  great  inland  metropolis  of  our  country, 
was  a  village  of  a  few  log  cabins. 

To  pass  through  the  great  West  now  and  note 
the  progress  everywhere  evident,  blinds  one  to  the 
actual  conditions  that  did  exist  such  a  few  years 

31 


32  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

ago.  In  towns  of  one  thousand  to  five  thousand 
people  we  find  that  the  streets  are  paved,  stone 
sidewalks  abound,  systems  of  electric  and  gas 
lighting  are  in  use,  streets  are  piped  for  sewer  and 
gas,  great  department  stores  with  modern  equip- 
ments invite  the  patronage  of  customers,  elegant 
and  commodious  church  and  school  buildings 
abound,  and  automobiles  run  the  streets.  Yet 
within  eight  miles  from  towns  like  this  I  can  show 
you  smaller  settlements  with  no  churches,  or  if 
any  churches,  weak  and  dying  ones.  New  towns 
are  forming  constantly,  and  the  country  for  fifty 
miles  from  the  railroad  track  is  settling  up. 

Many  of  the  people  who  settle  away  from  the 
railroads  are  foreigners,  but  others  are  from  Eastern 
towns,  where  they  have  enjoyed  the  privileges  of 
close  neighbors  and  church  and  good  schools.  They 
have  come  out  West  to  grow  up  with  the  country, 
purchasing  the  land  very  cheaply,  or  homesteading. 
They  are  often  so  homesick  and  lonely  that  they 
cannot  endure  it.  We  were  told  that  many  women 
on  the  prairies  had,  through  melancholia  and  lone- 
liness, gone  insane.  How  many  times  I  have 
listened  to  heart-breaking  stories  of  what  some  of 
the  early  settlers  endured.  In  fact  all  of  them  were 
obliged  to  suffer  much. 

I  well  remember  a  talk  I  had  with  a  good  Baptist 
brother  who  pioneered  in  South  Dakota  about 
twenty-four  years  ago.  He  went  out  in  September 
with  another  man,  and  they  slept  out  in  the  open 
with  no  shelter  but  the  sky  for  a  while,  until  they 


COLPORTAGE   DEPARTMENT  33 

could  get  a  "shack  "  erected.  He  told  me  of  the 
terrible  blizzard  of  October  that  year.  He  and  his 
companion  were  caught  in  the  "shack"  without 
food  or  fuel,  and  were  obliged  to  go  to  bed  with 
their  clothes  on  and  try  to  keep  warm  under  the 
blankets,  while  the  snow  whirled  and  the  wind 
howled  for  three  days  and  nights.  He  then  told 
me  of  his  continued  struggles  until  he  got  a  little 
ahead,  of  his  starting  a  small  country  store,  of  his 
bringing  his  new  wife  to  the  lonely  place,  and  of 
business  reverses  and  sickness,  until  I  felt  as  if  1 
had  never  endured  anything  very  hard.  He  was 
trying  to  be  faithful  to  his  Lord,  he  and  his  wife, 
and  helped  build  the  little  Baptist  meeting-house, 
and  had  kept  the  Sunday-school  running,  doing 
their  best  to  aid  in  keeping  a  pastor  on  the  field 
most  of  the  time.  When  I  was  there  he  was  help- 
ing to  get  the  new  parsonage  built  and  had  prom- 
ised fifty  dollars  toward  it,  besides  his  labor ;  yet 
he  and  his  wife  told  me  that  they  could  not  afford 
to  build  a  new  home  for  themselves  until  they  had 
finished  the  parsonage,  and  they  were  then  living 
in  the  little  old  house  that  had  been  their  prairie 
home  for  so  many  years.  How  my  heart  went  out 
to  them  as  the  tears  flowed  down  the  cheeks  of 
that  faithful  wife,  as  she  said,  "  I  do  hope  I  can 
have  a  new  home  some  day — I  have  worked  so 
hard  and  waited  so  long."  Dear,  noble  souls,  so 
full  of  sacrifice  for  their  Master,  how  glad  I  was  to 
tell  them  God  knew  and  appreciated  it  all ;  how 
happy   I  was  to  stop  a  few  days  and  encourage 

C 


34  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

them.  As  we  parted  and  they  thanked  me,  I 
praised  God  for  the  privilege  of  going  as  a  colporter 
missionary  to  help  such  faithful  servants  of  God. 

This  Western  country  where  the  chapel  cars  and 
colportage  wagons  go  is  filled  with  hundreds  of 
men,  women,  and  children,  who  have  endured 
much  and  are  still  struggling  on.  They  have  been 
miles  from  the  railroad,  from  physicians,  and  stores, 
have  been  obliged  to  get  along  almost  anyway 
they  could,  sometimes  hauling  their  grain  from 
twenty  to  fifty  miles  to  market.  I  met  some  only 
last  year  in  South  Dakota  who  were  downhearted 
because  the  year  before  the  hailstorms  had  destroyed 
their  crops,  and  that  year  rust — "  black  rust  " — had 
spoiled  their  wheat,  and  they  could  get  nothing 
toward  paying  the  mortgage  on  the  farm. 

It  certainly  was  discouraging  to  find  that  after 
the  threshing  was  done  there  was  barely  enough 
good  grain  to  pay  for  having  it  threshed.  It  was 
my  privilege  to  sympatize  with  and  encourage  them, 
by  telling  them  as  I  pointed  to  their  beloved  chil- 
dren, they  are  worth  living  for,  and  that  their  Chris- 
tian example  before  them  was  accomplishing  much, 
even  if  the  mortgage  could  not  be  lessened  this 
year.  How  many  hundreds  1  have  met  on  the 
Western  plains  and  in  the  woods  of  Minnesota  and 
Wisconsin  who  need  the  loving  ministry  of  the 
missionary. 

The  large  and  far-reaching  work  of  the  American 
Baptist  Publication  Society,  as  manifested  by  all 


COLPORTAGE  DEPARTMENT  35 

branches  of  its  missionary  activities,  is  summed  up 
and  briefly  expressed  in  one  word,  namely,  "CON- 
TACT." There  is  a  God  and  we  are  his  creatures. 
Every  human  being  is  one  of  his  own  creatures. 
God  loves  the  world,  every  individual.  He  has  a 
message  to  send.  The  gospel  is  that  message.  We 
have  received  it.  Upon  receiving  it  he  lovingly 
commands  us,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature." 

Our  God  does  not  secrete  himself  in  some  dark 
recess  of  some  remote  corner  of  his  universe,  thus 
making  it  hard  for  his  creatures  to  reach  him  with 
their  cries  for  help.  On  the  other  hand  he  takes 
the  initiative,  and  in  love  he  sends  to  his  creatures 
the  expressions  of  his  heart  and  will  through  the 
best  Book  in  the  world  and  the  personal  Christ. 
The  genius  of  the  gospel  demands  that  all  who  re- 
ceive it  should  have  the  same  spirit.  It  is  not 
enough  for  a  God  to  exist,  for  his  Book  to  be  in  the 
world,  but  God  wants  to  get  into  direct  contact 
with  every  one  of  his  creatures.  To  accomplish 
this  he  has  ordained  that  we  who  have  received 
him  with  his  truth  into  our  lives  should  be  his  mes- 
sengers to  carry  the  gospel  to  the  individual  soul. 
The  American  Baptist  Publication  Society  is  but  a 
medium  through  which  the  followers  of  Christ,  and 
particularly  that  body  of  believers  known  as  Bap- 
tists, can  by  means  of  the  agencies  of  the  chapel 
car,  colportage  wagon,  Sunday-school  missionary, 
and  the  printed  page,  in  a  very  special  and  effect- 
ive way  reach  the  needy  individual. 


36  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

The  Society  recognizes  that  it  is  not  enough  to 
have  commodious  and  substantial  buildings  well 
stocked  with  books  and  material,  nor  an  army  of 
men  and  women  to  print  periodicals  and  Bibles  and 
papers  by  the  million ;  these  messages  on  the 
printed  page  must  be  gotten  into  contact  with  the 
eye  and  the  mind  of  the  single  man,  no  matter 
where  he  is. 

It  is  not  enough  for  Christians  to  have  warm 
hearts,  to  be  happy  in  their  own  salvation,  to  enjoy 
each  other's  fellowship.  They  must  be  messen- 
gers of  God  and  go  out  to  every  nook  and  corner 
of  this  earth,  and  with  hearts  aglow  with  the  love 
for  God  and  man,  reach  out  the  individual  living 
hand  to  the  lost  one  and  speak  forth  with  a  living 
voice  the  words  of  life  to  the  individual.  That  is 
CONTACT.  It  matters  not  how  evangelical  our 
faith  is  nor  how  devout  our  lives  are  ;  if  we  are  not 
actually  getting  into  vital  touch  with  the  lonely, 
discouraged,  sin-cursed,  heartbroken  man  or  wo- 
man, boy  or  girl,  we  are  not  executing  the  will 
of  our  Lord. 

Because  the  Society  understands  its  commission 
and  feels  the  responsibility  of  this  call  of  God  and 
humanity,  our  presses  are  kept  running  six  days  in 
the  week,  scores  of  clerks  are  busy,  many  editors 
are  devoting  their  entire  time,  our  secretaries  are 
putting  their  life  into  their  work,  six  branch  houses 
are  kept  open,  fifty-two  colportage  wagons  have 
been  built,  six  chapel  cars  are  on  the  steel  rails, 
and  one  hundred  and  forty-four  live  missionaries 


COLPORTAGE  DEPARTMENT  37 

are  working  sometimes  night  and  day.  Contact  is 
the  word.  God  in  us.  The  soul  near  at  hand  or 
miles  away  that  needs  God.  Space  between.  We 
must  annihilate  that  distance.  Nothing  must  inter- 
vene. Faith  in  God,  in  his  message,  in  the  capacity 
of  man  to  receive,  must  conquer  ail  reluctance. 
Whatever  else  is  left  undone  that  soul  must  get  the 
message.  No  obstacles  or  difficulties  should  block 
the  way.  No  sacrifice  can  be  counted  too  great  in 
order  to  accomplish  the  result. 

When  Gordon  Bennett  had  his  final  talk  with 
Henry  M.  Stanley  just  before  that  explorer  was  to 
start  on  his  long  and  perilous  journey  across  Africa's 
dark  continent  in  search  of  Livingstone,  he  told 
him  that  money  was  nothing ;  "  Count  not  the  thou- 
sands of  pounds  you  may  need,"  but  remember 
you  are  to  "go  and  find  Livingstone,"  and  finally 
he  summed  up  his  whole  command,  with  the  two 
words,  "Find  him."  He  must  not  be  satisfied 
with  hearing  about  him,  or  getting  near  him  or 
knowing  he  was  alive.  He  must  accomplish  more 
than  that.  He  must  get  to  him.  Touch  him. 
Look  into  his  face.  Feel  the  pressure  of  his  hand. 
Talk  with  him  personally.  Yes,  he  must  get  into 
"contact "  with  him. 

Thus  our  blessed  Lord  stands  with  us  and  says, 
Remember  the  one  goal  of  your  ministry.  Find 
him.  Go  anywhere,  everywhere — to  the  farthest 
end  of  the  earth,  to  the  lonely  home  out  on  the 
Western  prairie  and  find  your  man.  Put  the 
*'word"   into   his   hand   with    your    own    hand. 


38  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

Touch  him  yourself — not  by  proxy  but  in  actual 
reality. 

This  is  the  colportage  department  of  the 
chapel-car  service.  We  are  not  to  sit  in  our 
beautiful  parsonage  and  church  on  wheels  and 
simply  call  the  public  to  our  services,  although  there 
is  great  power  in  pulpit  work,  and  1  would  not  for 
one  moment  minimize  the  place  of  public  preaching 
in  the  extension  of  God's  kingdom.  But  there  is 
something  more  to  do  and  nothing  can  take  the 
place  of  it.  We  are  to  go  to  the  homes,  to  the  places 
of  business,  to  the  single  man  or  woman,  and,  meet- 
ing them  alone,  seek  to  get  them  to  receive  the 
blessed  message  of  salvation  and  life  through  Jesus 
Christ.  After  all,  the  individual  is  the  unit  of  power. 
No  matter  what  place  God  has  for  reaching  many 
in  public  services,  I  am  convinced  that  he  wants 
more  personal  work  with  individuals.  How  many 
hundreds  of  miles  1  have  traveled  on  foot  or  bicycle 
through  the  country  surrounding  the  town  where 
our  car  was  side-tracked,  calling  at  home  after 
home,  seeking  to  tell  all  of  God's  love  and  his  de- 
sire to  save  and  help.  All  pastors  know  that  there 
is  no  more  fruitful  part  of  the  ministry  than  this 
personal  work. 

In  our  chapel-car  life  we  do  recognize  the  value 
of  "sole  "  work.  I  refer  now  to  the  sole  on  each 
shoe.  One  of  the  mottoes  of  my  life  is  expressed 
in  a  daily  prayer  of  mine,  "  Lord,  make  me  a  help 
to  some  ONE  to-day."  1  could  fill  many  pages  of 
this  book  with  the  record  of  the  sweet,  yea  heavenly 


COLPORTAGE   DEPARTMENT  39 

experiences  which  have  come  to  my  own  soul  as  I 
have  sought  to  fulfil  this  prayer. 

I  v^'onder  if  you,  dear  reader,  have  read  Ralph 
Connor's  latest  book,  "The  Prospector."  If  you 
have  you  will  remember  the  touching  scene  in  the 
home  of  Shock  McGregor,  who  had  responded  to 
the  call  from  God  through  the  Presbyterian  super- 
intendent of  missions,  to  go  at  the  close  of  his  col- 
lege course  into  the  wild  regions  of  Northwestern 
Canada  to  work  for  the  salvation  of  sinful  men 
and  women,  and  to  establish  a  permanent  work  if 
possible.  You  will  recall  how  that  noble  Scotch 
mother  gave  up  her  boy  for  God's  work-,  although 
it  nearly  broke  her  heart.  You  cannot  read  of 
those  last  hours  together  without  tears  coming  to 
your  eyes,  and  yet  you  are  proud  of  that  mother 
and  her  boy.  Why  that  sacrifice  ?  Simply  that 
the  gospel  story  might  be  told  by  a  living  repre- 
sentative directly  to  the  needy  one.  If  there  was 
to  be  contact  Shock  must  go  and  the  mother  must 
say  "Yes."  How  beautifully  she  did  it — and  I 
know  some  real  mothers  too,  who  have  done  it. 

Then  do  you  remember  Shock's  arrival  at  the 
station  in  the  town  where  the  convener  who  had 
charge  of  the  church  in  that  district  lived,  and  of 
his  farewell  to  the  convener  the  next  day  as  he 
struck  out  on  the  trail  toward  his  field  ?  And  how 
he  stopped  at  a  hut  about  noon  and  found  an  old 
man  there  who  offered  him  whisky  to  drink,  think- 
ing he  was  accustomed  to  imbibing  that  kind  of  a 
beverage.     Did  you  notice  how  Shock  got  into  con- 


40  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

tact  with  that  sinful  man  ?  Did  you  study  how 
tactfully  he  worked  his  way  into  living  touch  with 
the  deepest  heart  feelings  of  that  lonely  wretch  of 
a  man  ?  How  he  won  him  from  an  angry,  loud- 
mouthed attitude  to  a  quiet,  heart  talk  ?  Can  you 
not  see  them  in  that  shanty  sitting  down  to  dinner 
together  and  Shock  winning  him  to  more  confidence 
in  himself  every  minute,  as  he  tells  of  his  mother 
and  his  own  life  ?  And  then  the  old  man  tells  a 
sad,  sad  story  of  his  career  in  sin  and  elicits  all  the 
pity  and  sympathy  that  Shock  possessed.  Do  you 
remember  they  stopped  just  a  moment  when  each 
was  thinking  so  seriously,  and  Shock  reached  forth 
that  strong  hand  of  his  and  grasped  the  hand  of  the 
old  man  in  a  grip  of  love  and  looked  into  his 
despairing  face  and  said,  "What  you  want  is  a 
friend,  a  real  good  friend  ?  "  I  can  see  the  look  on 
the  face  of  that  lonely  soul  as  he  answered,  "I'd 
give  all  I  have  for  one,"  and  the  bright,  hopeful 
look  on  Shock's  face  as  he  said,  "  Let  me  tell  you 
about  mine,"  and  then  proceeded  for  a  half-hour  to 
pour  into  that  man's  ears  the  story  of  a  Saviour, 
God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  who  had  come  to  earth 
to  prove  he  was  our  friend  and  that  he  would  for- 
give, save,  and  help  us  every  day. 

Words  fail  to  express  my  feelings  as  1  read  this 
incident,  for  before  me  there  came  very  vividly  the 
picture  of  the  many,  many  lonely,  sinful  ones  whom 
I  had  met  out  on  the  prairies  and  in  the  woods  of 
the  West,  and  to  whom  I  had  carried  the  message 
of  the  same  divine  Friend. 


COLPORTAGE  DEPARTMENT  4I 

Let  me  also  emphasize  the  power  of  the  personal 
hand-touch.  Do  you  recall  how  many  times  Ralph 
Connor  refers  to  and  forcibly  exalts  the  influence 
of  the  touch  of  Shock's  hand  ?  How  every  one  he 
met  and  shook  hands  with  felt  the  thrill  of  that 
hand  and  spoke  of  it  ?  I  believe  in  the  author's 
exaltation  of  the  great  power  of  the  consecrated 
hand  in  the  work  of  Christ's  kingdom.  To  cor- 
roborate this  fact  one  should  read  what  Helen 
Keller  wrote  in  the  "  Century  "  recently  : 

The  hand-shake  of  some  people  makes  you  think  of  acci- 
dent and  sudden  death.  Contrast  this  ill-boding  hand  with 
the  quick,  skilful,  quiet  hand  of  a  nurse  whom  I  remember 
with  affection,  because  she  took  the  best  care  of  my  teacher. 
I  have  clasped  the  hand  of  some  rich  people  that  spin  not  and 
toil  not,  and  yet  are  not  beautiful.  Beneath  their  soft,  smooth 
roundness  what  a  chaos  of  undeveloped  character ! 

All  this  is  my  private  science  of  palmistry,  and  when  I  tell 
your  fortune  it  is  by  no  mysterious  intuition  of  Gypsy  witch- 
craft, but  by  natural,  explicable  recognition  of  the  embossed 
character  in  your  hand.  Not  only  is  the  hand  as  easy  to 
recognize  as  the  face,  but  it  reveals  its  secrets  more  openly 
and  unconsciously.  People  control  their  countenances  but 
the  hand  is  under  no  such  restraint.  It  relaxes  and  becomes 
listless  when  the  spirit  is  low  and  dejected ;  the  muscles 
tighten  when  the  mind  is  excited  or  the  heart  glad,  and 
permanent  qualities  stand  written  on  it  all  the  time. 

Who  could  know  the  power  of  a  hand-shake 
more  than  she  ?  I  am  assured  that  there  are  few 
individuals  anywhere  who  would  not  respond  to  the 
hearty  hand-clasp  of  one  whose  heart  was  on  fire 
with  the  love  of  Christ  for  lost  men  and  women. 


42  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

Contact  with  such  a  hand  revives  and  awakens, 
cheers  and  helps,  and  makes  the  cold  and  deadened 
souls  conscious  that  Christ  is  a  living  reality.  This 
is  what  the  world  needs  and  the  missionary  seeks 
to  meet  it  as  he  goes  from  home  to  home  and 
individual  to  individual. 

I  wish  it  were  possible  for  all  of  my  readers  to 
take  a  trip  on  the  chapel  car  and  stop  at  some  small 
town,  and  in  addition  to  holding  meetings  every 
day  go  with  me  into  the  homes  of  the  people 
throughout  the  country.  Only  last  fall  my  assist- 
ant and  I  borrowed  a  horse  and  buggy  one  after- 
noon and  started  on  a  trip,  making  a  circuit  of 
about  fifteen  miles  and  calling  at  nine  or  ten  homes. 
We  came  away  from  each  house  after  reading  from 
the  Bible  and  praying,  and  speaking  words  of  en- 
couragement, feeling  that  God  had  used  us  to  carry 
some  light  into  those  darkened  homes. 

I  remember  particularly  one  family  we  met.  The 
husband  had  been  to  the  chapel-car  meeting,  but 
the  mother  could  not  because  she  was  obliged  to 
stay  at  home  and  take  care  of  four  little  ones,  all 
under  seven  years  of  age.  They  were  very  poor, 
were  living  on  a  small  piece  of  rented  land,  had  lost 
about  all  of  the  crop  that  year,  and  of  course  were 
somewhat  discouraged.  They  were  exceedingly 
glad  to  see  us  and  we  found  them  Christian  people. 
Their  children  were  bright  little  jewels,  and  I  told 
the  parents  that  some  day  they  would  shine  some- 
where for  the  Master,  and  if  they  did  nothing  more 
than  to  raise  those  boys  and  girls  to  youth,  under 


COLPORTAGE  DEPARTMENT  43 

the  blessed  influence  of  a  genuine  Christian  par- 
entage, and  see  them  all  serving  God,  they  had 
accomplished  much.  We  prayed  that  God  would 
help  that  father  and  mother  thus  to  train  their 
children  and  grant  them  his  choicest  blessings  every 
day.  As  we  left  we  were  sure  that  they  had  ap- 
preciated our  visit  and  our  hearts  were  happy  as  we 
drove  away. 

Let  me  record  another  incident  of  the  blessing 
and  power  of  the  personal  touch.  During  a  series 
of  meetings  in  a  Wisconsin  town  I  heard  one  night 
that  a  certain  family  had  a  very  sick  boy.  At  first 
I  had  no  thought  that  we  had  anything  on  the  car 
that  could  be  used  to  help  them,  and  retired,  pray- 
ing for  the  little  boy  of  course,  but  not  conscious 
that  we  had  that  which  might  be  used  to  help  an- 
swer our  prayer.  Before  going  to  sleep  I  was 
aroused  by  the  thought  that  we  had  just  what  he 
needed,  and  although  the  snow  was  quite  deep,  and 
the  family  lived  one  and  one-half  miles  from  the 
car,  1  decided  to  get  up  and  dress  and  go  over  with 
the  medicine.  When  I  arrived  there  I  found  all  of 
the  family  up  and  very  anxious  about  the  boy.  I 
told  them  I  was  anxious  too,  sympathized  with 
them,  and  gave  them  the  medicine  I  had  brought. 
We  knelt  in  prayer  and  left  it  with  our  loving  Lord. 
How  much  good  the  medicine  did  the  boy  I  know 
not,  but  I  know  that  trip  did  me  good.  I  was  so 
happy  that  the  return  home  through  the  snow  with 
the  pure  white  at  my  feet  and  the  stars  above  was 
to  me  a  walk  through  the  streets  of  heaven,  and  1 


44  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

am  also  confident  that  the  hearts  of  those  parents 
and  that  family  were  close  to  mine. 

The  boy  got  well  and  soon  after  1  called  there, 
praying  that  God  would  help  me  to  lead  them  all 
to  a  knowledge  of  Jesus  as  Saviour  and  Lord.  I 
found  the  entire  family  of  father  and  mother  and 
five  children  at  home.  They  gave  me  a  chair  in 
the  center  of  the  group.  I  told  them  I  was  glad  the 
boy  was  better,  and  that  they  had  been  to  the 
meetings,  and  talked  on  a  few  moments.  As  I 
looked  up  I  saw  that  both  of  the  parents  were  in 
tears,  and  I  asked,  "  Are  you  not  ready  to  kneel 
with  me  and  ask  God  to  forgive  and  save  you  and 
give  you  strength  faithfully  to  serve  him  ?  "  I 
asked  each  older  child  and  the  parents  personally, 
and  as  they  answered  "Yes,"  we  knelt,  and  to- 
gether they  "yielded"  to  Christ.  About  five 
months  after  that  I  baptized  four  of  them  and  they 
are  stanch  members  of  a  little  Baptist  church. 

Seldom  have  we  visited  a  town  without  being 
conscious  of  God's  special  blessing  on  every  effort 
to  go  out  into  the  homes  and  by  personal  appeal 
seek  to  help  those  for  whom  Christ  lived  and  died. 
Heaven  alone  will  reveal  how  many  lonely  hearts 
have  been  cheered,  how  many  dark  lives  bright- 
ened, how  many  lives  and  souls  helped  and  won  in 
this  department  of  chapel-car  service. 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL  AND  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S 
DEPARTMENT 

IT  is  not  my  purpose  to  make  this  chapter  an  ad- 
dress on  the  place  of  the  Sunday-school  and 
young  people's  work  in  our  modern  religious 
activities,  but  rather  to  set  before  you  a  few  of  our 
ideals  and  inspirations,  and  to  inform  you  as  to 
what  part  the  chapel  car  has  in  this  blessed  service. 
While  this  may  fall  into  the  hands  of  some  critics 
of  the  Sunday-school  of  to-day,  yet  I  am  convinced 
that  the  larger  company  of  my  readers  need  no 
extended  arguments  to  prove  to  them  the  im- 
portance of  this  ever-growing  department  in  our 
religious  life. 

The  place  and  power  of  the  Sunday  Bible-school 
have  been  established  beyond  any  possibility  of 
doubt.  Practically  all  believe  in  it.  We  recognize 
it  to  be  the  nursery  of  the  church  and  a  potent 
factor  in  the  onward  march  of  Christianity.  Nearly 
fifteen  millions  of  our  youth  are  enjoying  and  profit- 
ing by  its  training  to-day,  and  millions  and  mil- 
lions of  boys  and  girls  have  grown  into  Christian 
manhood  and  womanhood  because  of  their  con- 
nection with  it.  In  hundreds  of  instances  the  or- 
ganization of  a  Sunday-school  has  brought  about 

45 


46  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

the  organization  of  a  churcii,  the  building  of  a 
meeting-house,  and  the  setthng  of  a  pastor. 

Some  of  the  most  trustworthy  members  and 
honored  deacons  and  trustees  of  our  churches  of 
to-day,  who  have  served  the  Lord  faithfully  and 
efficiently  as  they  have  loyally  supported  the  work 
of  Christ,  bear  cheerful  testimony  that  they  were 
won  to  Christ  while  they  were  members  of  the 
Sunday-school. 

Our  Society  is  known  as  the  great  Sunday- 
school  Society  of  the  denomination,  and  while  we 
have  not  been  able  to  put  the  time  and  thought  to  its 
development  that  our  many  efficient  Sunday-school 
missionaries  have,  yet  we  have  ever  sought  to  up- 
lift its  standards  and  inaugurate  its  work  when  it 
has  been  possible.  During  the  first  two  or  three 
years  of  our  chapel-car  experience  the  scope  of  our 
work  in  a  number  of  instances  was  measured  by 
visits  to  very  small  towns,  with  the  result  of  a  few 
conversions  and  the  organization  of  a  Sunday- 
school.  Many  times  we  found  that  in  these  towns 
was  no  moral  influence  whatever.  Some  of  the 
places  could  hardly  be  called  towns.  There  would 
be  a  station,  a  store,  a  saloon,  and  two  or  three 
houses,  oftentimes  not  so  many  buildings  as  these. 

I  remember  that  during  our  first  winter  on  the 
car  Mrs.  Rust  and  I  were  side-tracked  on  a  lonely 
siding  in  the  Minnesota  woods  where  there  was  not 
even  a  station.  Surely  this  was  exactly  the  kind 
of  a  place  in  which  a  church  on  wheels  ought  to  be. 
No  words  can  describe  to  you  what  the  car  meant 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL  AND  YOUNG  PEOPLE         47 

to  those  people.  There  were  but  six  or  eight 
houses  in  sight,  but  when  the  time  for  the  evening 
meeting  came  the  people  began  to  file  in  through 
the  doorway,  and  to  our  surprise  the  car  was  full. 

How  eagerly  they  listened  and  took  in  the  gos- 
pel message  in  word  and  song  !  We  were  there 
only  a  few  days,  but  hearts  were  touched  and  a 
Sunday-school  of  some  forty  scholars  was  organ- 
ized, and  papers  and  quarterlies  donated  by  our 
society  were  distributed. 

I  have  never  forgotten  that  little  spot  nor  the 
picture  of  the  bright  faces  of  those  boys  and  girls. 
One  girl  in  particular  we  remember.  She  seemed 
very  intelligent  and  susceptible,  and  we  were  con- 
fident that  she  yielded  her  young  life  to  Christ 
during  our  meetings.  How  pleased  I  was  one  Sun- 
day when  preaching  in  Calvary  Baptist  Church, 
Minneapolis,  to  have  a  tall,  young  woman  come  to 
me  and  tell  me  that  she  was  the  girl  who  gave  her 
life  to  Christ  in  the  meetings  in  that  little  place 
eight  years  before,  and  she  had  been  striving  to  be 
a  faithful  Christian  ever  since.  She  also  said  that 
now  she  was  a  member  of  a  Baptist  church  in  a 
large  town  and  was  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools. 
The  training  of  that  one  life  was  worth  our  effort 
and  the  effort  of  that  Sunday-school.  It  is  true 
that  in  many  communities  throughout  the  West 
the  one  center  of  moral  influence  for  all  who  live 
for  miles  around,  is  the  Sunday-school  which  is  or- 
ganized by  the  Sunday-school  or  chapel-car  mis- 
sionary.    I  have  many  times  feared  that  there  was 


48  A  CHURCH   ON   WHEELS 

a  danger  of  looseness  in  our  methods  of  organizing 
these  schools.  I  am  afraid  that  we  have  accepted 
quite  low  standards  of  a  Christian  Sunday-school 
in  some  instances.  We  are  sure  that  in  the  mind 
of  our  Lord  this  wonderful  institution  is  more  than 
a  Sunday  social  club  or  literary  society,  with  the 
Bible  as  the  principal  book  to  study.  If  we  go  into 
a  community  where  there  are  practically  no  con- 
fessing Christians,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the 
people  there  will  have  correct  ideas  of  the  Sunday- 
school.  However,  we  are  not  to  lower  the  standard 
to  their  conception  of  it,  no  matter  how  imperative 
the  need  for  such  a  school  is. 

I  fully  recognize  the  difficulties  in  the  way,  and 
the  poor  material  which  the  Lord  has  from  which 
to  make  a  true  and  efficient  school,  but  I  believe 
the  missionary  fails  if  he  in  his  anxiety  to  multiply 
schools  and  for  lack  of  time  stops  but  one  Sunday, 
and  with  what  he  has,  regardless  of  condition  or 
ideals,  organizes  what  would  be  called  a  Sunday- 
school.  In  many  instances  it  is  anything  but  a 
Christian  school.  I  firmly  believe  that  one  school 
on  an  intelligent  and  Christian  foundation,  and  or- 
ganized well,  is  far  better  than  many  schools  or- 
ganized quickly  and  with  no  solid  moral  underpin- 
ning to  hold  them  up. 

We  are  convinced  that  the  missionary  should 
stay  and  hold  a  series  of  meetings.  He  should  call 
at  the  homes,  and  work  hard  publicly  and  person- 
ally toward  the  conversion  of  adults  and  young 
people.     Yes,  stay  long  enough  to  have  the  people 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL  AND  YOUNG   PEOPLE         49 

clearly  see  the  dignity  and  exalted  ideals  which 
rightfully  belong  to  a  Christian  Bible-school.  Then, 
under  God's  blessing,  he  can  organize  something 
that  will  stand  the  test  of  time.  The  future  of  the 
Sunday-school  will  depend  largely  upon  what  ideas 
the  people  have  of  such  a  school,  therefore  it  is  of 
the  utmost  importance  that  God's  ideas,  true  Chris- 
tian ideas,  be  imbedded  in  their  minds  at  its  incep- 
tion.    The  missionary  has  this  in  his  power  to  do. 

While  it  may  be  impossible  in  some  instances, 
yet  I  believe  that  in  nearly  every  community 
in  this  country  it  is  possible  to  invite  the  people 
kindly  to  gather  for  gospel  meetings,  boldly  and  lov- 
ingly to  preach  of  their  need  of  Christ,  as  sinners, 
and  his  willingness  to  save  and  to  lead  many  in 
that  town  or  community  to  the  acceptance  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  personal  Saviour  and  Lord.  Then  meet 
to  organize  the  school  after  talking  and  praying 
with  individuals  about  what  part  God  would  have 
them  take  in  the  work.  After  explaining  what  a 
Bible-school  really  implies,  namely,  that  the  study 
of  the  Scriptures  is  no  trifling  matter,  that  the  train- 
ing of  the  boys  and  girls  is  of  great  importance,  and 
that  it  is  preeminently  a  Christian  institution  ; 
then  in  quiet  solemnity  have  all  bow  their  heads 
and  consecrate  themselves  to  the  teaching  and 
study  of  the  best  Book  in  the  world,  happily  con- 
scious of  the  blessed  work  undertaken  and  that 
God  is  to  give  grace  to  each  one  for  his  part. 

To  my  mind  every  officer  and  teacher  in  the 
school  ought  to  be  a  Christian  if  possible.     Some- 

D 


50  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

times  this  is  very  hard  to  accomphsh.  I  remember 
one  little  settlement  in  the  woods  where  we  were 
thinking  of  organizing  a  Sunday-school,  and  won- 
dering who  would  be  the  best  one  to  place  at  the 
head  as  superintendent.  1  asked  some  one,  "Who 
would  make  a  good  superintendent  ?  "     They  said 

"  The  smartest  man  around  here  is  Mr.  J ;  you 

had  better  secure  him." 

When  I  inquired  more  about  him  I  found  that 
he  was  a  very  profane  and  sinful  man.  Now  they 
honestly  thought  that  "smartness"  was  the  pri- 
mary qualification  for  a  superintendent,  it  had 
evidently  never  dawned  upon  them  that  he  would 
not  be  exactly  fit  for  that  position.  At  best  they 
thought  they  would  get  along  with  his  example  and 
allow  him  to  be  superintendent.  I  was  very  grate- 
ful that  some  people  were  converted  and  we  were 
able  to  get  a  much  more  suitable  spiritual  leader  for 
the  people  of  that  community. 

This  Bible-school  question  is  a  live  one  and  de- 
serves our  time  and  best  thought.  If  you  wish  to 
become  an  efficient  worker  in  this  department  of 
our  aggressive  church  activity  you  can  secure  val- 
uable help  in  the  books  published  by  our  Society. 
Uncle  Boston's  "Spicy  Breezes"  will  give  you 
many  excellent  hints  and  illustrations,  as  will  scores 
of  other  books. 

YOUNG   PEOPLE'S   DEPARTMENT 

It  becomes  my  special  pleasure  to  consider  this 
feature  of  our  chapel-car  life.     No  brighter  spots  in 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL  AND  YOUNG   PEOPLE         5 1 

our  evangelistic  experiences  can  be  seen  than  those 
where  we  have  engaged  in  work  with  and  for  the 
young  people.  Mrs.  Rust  and  I  were  quite  young 
when  we  entered  this  service  (she  was  twenty-one 
and  I  was  twenty-four),  and  we  are  still  young 
and,  as  Doctor  Henson  says,  "  We  never  expect  to 
get  old  ;  we  are  going  to  die  first." 

There  never  was  a  time  when  we  sympathized 
with  and  believed  in  the  young  people  as  we  do  to- 
day. As  we  mingle  with  them  and  see  them  in 
their  pleasures  and  studies  and  work  we  always 
pray  for  power  to  understand  them,  to  see  the  world 
as  they  see  it,  to  feel  as  they  feel,  to  discriminate, 
to  get  down  deep  into  their  natures,  and  with  true 
heart  sympathy  for  them  in  their  difficulties  and 
heartaches,  seek  most  earnestly  to  be  of  real  help 
to  them. 

We  do  not  think  that  because  a  girl  desires  to 
move  in  step  to  some  fascinating  music  that  she 
thus  proves  herself  to  be  possessed  of  a  sinful  dispo- 
sition, although  we  can  easily  see  the  real  danger 
and  we  endeavor  to  point  it  out  to  her.  Nor  do  we 
conclude  that  the  overflowing  vivacity  and  life, 
which  often  expresses  itself  in  unpleasant  forms, 
is  necessarily  vulgar  and  sinful. 

I  do  thank  my  God  most  heartily  for  the  priv- 
ileges which  these  years  have  afforded  me  in  get- 
ting into  touch  with  the  lives  of  thousands  of  young 
people.  I  have  received  untold  inspiration  and  help 
from  them,  and  while  my  heart  has  ached  at  times, 
yet  the  influence  of  their  pure  and  noble  lives  will 


52  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

continue  as  it  has,  to  help  me  to  a  noble  manhood 
in  Jesus  Christ. 

If  our  ministry  on  the  chapel  car  has  been 
fruitful  at  all  1  feel  that  God  has  caused  it  to  be 
especially  fruitful  in  our  work  with  the  boys  and 
girls  and  young  people.  I  have  often  said  that  if 
the  chapel-car  workers  were  to  do  nothing  more  in 
the  towns  where  they  stop  than  to  help  and  win 
and  inspire  these  boys  and  girls  whom  God  loves, 
it  would  be  money  and  time  well  spent. 

A  VISION 

God  has  given  to  me  many  visions  in  recent 
years,  many  very  beautiful  ones,  including  a  new 
and  enlarged  one  of  himself  and  of  man.  He  has 
also  portrayed  upon  my  mind  very  vividly  the  true 
picture  of  the  value  of  a  human  life.  He  enables 
me,  as  he  does  you,  to  look  into  the  future.  When 
I  look  into  the  face  of  a  boy  1  do  not  see  a  devil  or 
an  angel  or  a  "kid."  I  see  a  MAN.  When  1  look 
into  the  face  of  a  girl  I  see  a  woman.  I  think  I  can 
truthfully  state  that  I  seldom  pass  a  boy  or  girl  on 
the  street  without  seeing  this  vision  at  the  time  I 
meet  them.  No  doubt  you  remember  the  story  of 
the  boy  who  was  in  a  man's  way  and  bothering  him 
considerably.  The  man  told  him  to  move  twice, 
but  he  kept  bothering  by  putting  himself  exactly 
where  the  man  wanted  to  be.  Finally  the  man  in 
an  angry  mood  said  to  him,  "  Get  out  of  the  way. 
What  do  you  amount  to  anyway  ?  "  The  boy 
looked  up  in  his  face  and  answered,  "Didn't  you 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL  AND  YOUNG   PEOPLE         53 

know  that  God  makes  men  out  of  such  things  as  I 
am?"  It  is  true  we  are  dealing  with  embryonic 
manhood  and  womanhood  when  we  touch  the 
boy  and  girl.  Our  task  and  privilege  is  no  insig- 
nificant one.  Manhood  is  in  the  making  and  we 
are  co-laborers  with  God  in  its  accomplishment. 
When  our  little  Marjorie  was  about  five  years  old 
she  came  home  from  Sunday-school  singing, 

Little  buds  of  promise, 

Oh,  so  pure  and  white  ; 
Are  so  very  precious 

In  the  Saviour's  sight. 

She  is  indeed,  as  every  boy  and  girl  is,  a  bud  of 
promise.  How  many  buds  of  promise  we  have  seen 
blossom  into  noblest  manhood  and  womanhood. 

At  another  time  she  looked  into  her  mother's 
face  and  said,  "Sometime,  mamma,  I  am  going  to 
be  a  bid  yady."  She  meant  lady.  Yes,  this  is 
true  and  with  every  other  girl  it  is  the  same. 
Whenever  I  meet  them  I  hear  them  saying  "  some- 
time I  am  going  to  be  a  woman."  What  kind,  of 
what  character,  of  what  purpose,  is  the  question  ? 

We  believe  that  they  can,  except  in  rare  in- 
stances, be  trained  into  the  very  best  Christian, 
womanhood.  Thank  God  for  what  the  gospel  has 
done  for  woman  and  for  the  message  it  brings  to 
the  girl.  In  working  with  young  people  we  are 
dealing  with  lives  as  well  as  souls.  There  is  in- 
spiration in  the  opportunity  to  save  a  life  with  a 
soul.     I  would  hasten  to  the  side  of  a  dying  man 


54  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

who  was  seventy  years  of  age,  and  who  had  lived 
in  sin  and  rebelled  against  his  God  all  his  life  ;  I 
would  tell  him  that  God  would  forgive  and  save 
through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ ;  but  I  would  hasten 
more  rapidly  to  the  youth  or  maiden  who  desired  to 
be  saved  and  yield  their  hearts  and  lives  to  Christ, 
to  be  molded  and  devoloped  by  him  through  time 
and  eternity.  The  old  man  did  not  have  so  much  to 
save  as  the  young  people.  His  life  had  been  wasted, 
their  lives  were  presented  gladly  to  the  Lord. 

Christianity  is  more  than  an  escape  from  hell  at 
death  into  heaven.  The  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
greater  than  being  saved  from  something.  It  is 
being  saved  into  something,  into  a  more  beautiful, 
noble  life  on  earth  and  a  more  beautiful  life  in 
heaven.  That  conception  of  Christianity  which 
could  allow  one  to  be  willing  to  live  a  life  of  selfish- 
ness and  sin  and  receive  Christ  as  Saviour  of  the 
soul  and  only  the  soul  just  before  one  dies,  cannot 
be  tolerated  by  anything  noble  in  man. 

As  we  have  caught  this  vision  we  have  ever 
sought  to  portray  it  to  the  young  people  and  give 
them  a  picture  of  the  Christian  life  with  no  frame 
of  black  around  it,  but  a  picture  of  a  life  which  is 
the  brightest,  the  most  attractive,  the  most  wom- 
anly and  manly  to  live,  even  when  it  is  touched 
here  and  there  with  the  sombre  colors  of  sacrifice 
and  suffering  in  the  Master's  cause. 

To  this  they  have  responded  in  hundreds  of  in- 
stances. They  have  seen  the  exceeding  sinfulness 
of  sin,  the  need  of  receiving  the  personal  Christ  to 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL  AND  YOUNG   PEOPLE         55 

save,  and  the  vision  of  the  nobility  and  grandeur  of 
a  life  given  to  him  and  his  work  with  a  definite 
purpose  in  view.  At  the  close  of  a  meeting  in  a 
large  city  church  a  young  woman  came  rushing  to 
me  and  exclaimed,  **0  Mr.  Rust,  I  have  caught 
a  new  vision  of  life  and  I  do  want  to  live  it." 
She  had  hardly  finished  speaking  when  a  young 
man  came  and  told  me  the  same. 

RESPONSIVENESS 

We  are  happily  conscious  that  when  we  work 
with  the  boys  and  girls  and  youth  of  our  land  we 
are  touching  human  life  at  the  most  responsive  age. 
The  farther  one  sails  along  the  river  of  life  the  more 
difficult  it  is  to  yield  to  the  pleadings  of  God's 
Spirit.  Probably  you  are  well  aware  that  nearly 
all  of  our  church-members  became  Christians  be- 
fore they  were  twenty  years  of  age.  We  recog- 
nize that  this  department  of  our  service  is  the 
opportunity  of  our  lives  and  we  have  tried  to  im- 
prove it.  There  are  practically  no  boys  and  girls 
of  ten  or  twelve  years  of  age  who  are  planning  to 
waste  their  lives  in  vanity  or  ruin  them  in  sin. 
Possibly  one  may  find  a  boy  or  girl  who  has  been 
brought  up  in  the  slums  and  knows  nothing  but 
crime,  yet  these  are  not  normal  cases  of  American 
childhood.  As  a  rule,  we  are  not  dealing  with  that 
kind.  I  have  never  met  a  boy  or  girl  who  came 
from  an  average  home  who  has  any  thought  of 
ruining  the  life.  I  find  them  susceptible  to  the 
teachings  of  Jesus,  and  mostly  easy  to  win. 


56  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

I  see  no  reason  why  we  should  not  expect  them 
to  be  Christians,  and  that  at  a  very  early  age.  Of 
course  children  differ,  but  with  devout  Christian 
parents  why  is  it  not  possible  to  so  train  the  child 
in  the  things  of  God  that  there  will  never  be  a 
time  in  his  life  when  he  does  not  want  to  do  just 
what  God  would  have  him  do  ?  It  is  true  in  each 
life  there  will  come  a  time  when  there  will  be  a 
definite  yielding  to  Christ  as  an  intelligent  being, 
but  this  will  be  easy  and  not  after  a  long  and  bitter 
fight  against  a  loving  God. 

I  well  remember  the  time  when  we  were  enter- 
tained at  a  beautiful  home  in  a  large  Western  city. 
The  gentleman  in  this  home  is  one  of  the  influential 
members  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  in  that  city, 
and  prominent  in  the  work  of  the  State.  He  is  now 
nearly  sixty  years  of  age.  One  night  he  stood  in  a 
public  meeting  and  said,  "  There  has  never  been  a 
time  in  my  life  when  I  did  not  want  to  do  just 
what  I  believed  God  wanted  me  to."  When  I  met 
his  dear  old  mother  and  saw  the  picture  of  that 
noble  father,  I  understood  his  statement.  Oh,  for 
more  consecrated  Christian  training  for  the  child 
in  the  home  ! 

I  have  sometimes  considered  our  young  people's 
work  under  the  figure  of  a  "  wheel,"  and  have  said 
that  this  department  turns  the  easiest  and  with  the 
least  friction.  We  seldom  have  to  push  it  or  oil  it, 
in  fact  it  runs  itself  if  you  will  only  direct  it,  and 
our  effort  is  to  restrain  it  sometimes  so  that  we  can 
take  time  to  explain  where  it  is  going.     As  it  turns 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL  AND  YOUNG   PEOPLE         57 

it  reveals  a  halo  of  special  light  around  it,  and  the 
spokes  and  hub  are  sparkling  with  jewels.  I  would 
that  all  the  wheels  of  our  religious  machinery  turned 
as  easily  and  beautifully.  How  we  thank  God  for 
the  responsiveness  of  the  young  people.  How 
many  times  in  the  towns  where  we  have  been  the 
conditions  and  actions  of  the  adults  presented  to  us 
a  picture  of  a  great  mountain  of  sin  and  indiffer- 
ence, but  out  from  that  mountain  there  have  burst 
in  spontaneous  responsiveness,  the  faith,  love,  and 
devotion  of  the  boys  and  girls. 

At  other  times  sadness  and  gloom  claimed  the 
hearts  of  the  missionaries  as  they  beheld  the  sins  of 
the  older  ones,  but  the  darkness  has  been  bril- 
liantly studded  with  the  gems  of  light  as  mani- 
fested in  the  lives  of  the  young  people.  We  have 
always  found  the  boys  and  girls  very  responsive 
to  whatever  truth  we  have  endeavored  to  teach, 
but  sometimes  they  were  too  literal  in  their  inter- 
pretation of  the  truth  taught.  Once  we  were  side- 
tracked in  a  town  which  was  full  of  wickedness. 
There  were  saloons  and  beer  barrels  all  around  us. 
During  a  talk  on  "  Danger  Signals  "  1  had  told  them 
that  I  wished  that  they  could  write  "danger"  (in 
their  mind)  over  every  saloon  in  the  city.  They  went 
from  that  car  and  taking  chalk,  wrote  "  DANGER  " 
on  the  doors  of  the  saloon,  on  the  sidewalk  in  front 
of  the  saloons,  and  also  upon  the  beer  storage  houses. 
I  truly  wish  that  a  law  could  be  passed  obliging  the 
saloon-keepers  to  put  this  word  in  red  letters  upon 
the  doors  of  their  places  of  business. 


58  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

I  have  decided  to  tell  of  a  few  of  these  young 
people  who  have  so  inspired  us. 

We  were  in  a  little  town  in  Wisconsin.  It  was  a 
wicked  place.  Sin  abounded  everywhere.  We 
noticed  a  bright,  robust  girl  of  eleven  years  of  age 
sitting  in  the  car.  She  came  every  day  and  watched 
that  blackboard  and  listened  to  the  "talks."  We 
found  her  parents  were  very  poor.  At  the  end  of  a 
week  she  came  to  me  and  told  me  that  she  wanted 
to  give  her  whole  life  to  God.  We  prayed  together. 
A  lofty  purpose  filled  her  soul  as  I  talked  with  her 
about  what  God  wanted  to  do  with  her  life.  She 
determined  to  be  a  true  Christian,  and  yielded  her- 
self fully  to  Christ.  The  following  is  a  letter  that  she 
wrote  me  when  she  was  but  eleven  years  of  age  : 

January  23,  1897. 

Dear  Mr.  Rust  :  As  you  asked  us  to  write  to  you,  I  will 
write  you  a  few  lines  this  afternoon.  I  am  so  glad  the  car 
came,  for  I  believe  it  has  helped  this  town  a  great  deal,  and  I 
wish  it  would  never  go  away,  although  I  want  it  to  help 
others  as  well  as  it  has  us.  I  have  learned  a  great  deal  since 
you  came,  and  1  am  very  glad  for  my  cards  and  papers.  I  am 
so  glad  that  we  are  going  to  have  a  Sunday-school,  and  I 
will  go  every  Sunday  that  I  can. 

Yes,  Mr.  Rust,  I  have  given  my  whole  life  to  Jesus,  and  he 
may  keep  it.  I  remember  that  you  told  us  that  the  biggest 
thing  that  we  could  steal  was  to  steal  our  lives  from  God.  I 
will  not  do  that,  and  I  will  not  swear  nor  steal  nor  reject 
Jesus.  1  learned  that  the  way  to  have  Jesus  blot  out  my  bad 
record,  was  first  to  tell  him  I  was  sorry  for  my  sins,  then  not 
to  lie  nor  steal  nor  swear,  then  to  read  good  books  and  live 
for  Jesus. 

From  your  true  friend, 

EDITH. 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL  AND  YOUNG   PEOPLE         59 

I  went  back  to  that  town  months  afterward. 
She  was  baptized,  became  secretary  and  teacher  in 
the  Sunday-school  when  she  was  but  twelve  years 
of  age,  and  some  of  the  people  told  me  that  she 
was  the  Christian  young  woman  of  the  whole 
town.  It  is  true  that  her  life  in  such  sinful  sur- 
roundings was  like  a  pure  white  lily  growing  in  a 
bank  of  mud. 

I  had  many  quiet  talks  with  her,  and  tried  to  in- 
spire her  to  get  an  education  and  be  something 
more  than  the  girls  she  knew.  She  responded  that 
she  would,  and  promised  to  write  to  me  once  in  six 
months.  How  pleased  we  were  to  get  a  letter  from 
her  recently  with  something  enclosed.  She  had 
worked  her  way  through  a  normal  school  in  Wis- 
consin and  was  about  to  graduate,  and  this  letter 
was  an  invitation  for  us  to  attend  the  exercises. 
We  also  noticed  on  the  programme  she  sent  that 
there  were  eighteen  graduates  and  three  orations 
and  she  was  to  deliver  one  of  the  orations.  We 
could  not  go,  but  we  met  her  at  the  station  the  next 
day.  As  we  met  this  womanly  girl  and  took  her 
hand,  and  thought  of  the  place  from  which  she 
came,  and  how  she  had  struggled  on  to  such  glori- 
ous achievements,  we  thanked  God  for  allowing 
us  to  touch  her  life  in  those  early  days,  and  also 
felt  inspired  to  live  better  in  days  to  come.  She  is 
now  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools. 

I  recall  the  time  when  a  girl  of  eighteen  came 
into  our  meetings  in  Iowa,  She  was  modest  and 
retiring,  and  every  inch  a  lady.     With  tears  in  her 


60  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

eyes  she  said  she  did  want  to  be  a  true  Christian. 
She  was  soon  in  the  light,  and  so  happy  and  deter- 
mined. The  ridicule  of  others  had  no  effect  upon 
her,  except  to  make  her  want  to  be  more  like  her 
Lord,  and  I  had  the  privilege  of  baptizing  her  with 
three  others,  including  her  sister.  About  a  year 
after  we  left  that  town  we  received  a  letter  from 
her,  stating  that  she  fully  believed  that  God  wanted 
her  to  do  some  special  work  for  him,  and  that  she 
had  heard  the  call  and  was  ready  to  go  where  he 
wanted  her  to  go  and  to  be  what  he  wanted  her  to 
be.  In  her  letter  she  expressed  a  wish  that  we  di- 
rect her  to  some  school  where  she  could  fit  her- 
self for  the  life  of  a  missionary.  To-day  she  is 
in  Chicago  studying,  having  left  teaching  school 
last  fall. 

Can  any  one  but  God  tell  what  he  is  to  do  with 
this  consecrated  young  woman  ?  If  nothing  else 
had  been  accomplished  by  the  visit  of  the  car  to 
that  town,  was  not  the  finding  of  this  jewel  worth 
our  labors  ?  I  cannot  but  believe  that  there  are 
many  such  jewels  whom  God  ought  to  have  for 
special  service. 

But  I  must  write  something  concerning  the  boys, 
and  I  can  do  no  better  than  insert  their  letters  to 
me.  The  first  one  is  from  a  dear  boy  who  lived  in 
northern  North  Dakota.  Please  notice  how  intel- 
ligently he  writes : 

November  25,  '97. 
DEAR  MR.  RUST :  1  have  considered  that  the  best  thing  in 
the  world  for  me  to  do  is  to  live  for  Jesus.    I  know  I  have 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL  AND  YOUNG   PEOPLE        6l 

broken  God's  laws  and  have  done  wrong.  My  dear  father 
died  about  two  months  ago  and  left  my  mother  and  five  chil- 
dren. 1  am  the  oldest,  thirteen  years  of  age.  My  father  lived 
a  true,  good.  Christian  life,  always  loved  to  go  to  church,  and 
always  had  regular  family  prayers.  And  now  my  mother 
wants  me  to  live  a  Christian  life,  and  mother  says  that  she 
will  live  for  Jesus  and  do  all  she  can  to  lead  the  children  to 
Jesus.  Mr.  Rust,  I  have  asked  Jesus  to  forgive  me  for  all 
my  sins,  and  give  me  a  new  heart  and  keep  it  pure,  and  as  1 
said  the  other  night,  "  I  will  live  for  Jesus." 

1  am  going  to  do  my  best  to  be  a  Christian,  and  while  I  am 
spared  will  try  to  lead  others  to  Jesus.  Thank  you  for  the 
good  you  have  done  me. 

Yours  respectfully, 

BURRITT  HlLLIER. 

How  blessed  the  influence  of  a  godly  father  and 
mother,  and  what  a  manly  son.  The  following  is 
from  an  unusually  promising  boy  of  about  the  same 
age.  He  is  the  son  of  a  prominent  business  man 
in  a  city  in  Wisconsin,  who  is  a  member  of  the 
Congregational  church  : 

May  8,  1903. 

Dear  Mr.  Rust  :  I  have  found  that  the  only  life  to  lead 
is  the  life  of  a  Christian.  I  have  been  trying  to  become  a 
full-fledged  Christian  for  many  years.  Sometimes  I  think  I 
have  conquered,  then  something  comes  up,  and  as  I  have  an 
awfully  quick  temper  I  lose  control  of  myself  and  fall  back. 
Now  1  can  truthfully  say  that  1  am  going  in  the  narrow  gate. 
1  have  learned  a  great  many  things  from  your  services,  I 
I  have  opened  my  heart  to  Christ  and  shut  it  to  Satan. 

Yesterday,  when  you  asked  us  to  come  forward  I  wanted 
to  go,  and  be  one  of  the  first  ones  up  there,  but  when  I  started 
to  go  I  seemed  glued  to  the  seat.  I  could  not  feel  strength 
enough  to  move.     But  I  made  one  final  effort  and  succeeded. 


62  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

and  as  a  result  I  am  about  the  happiest  boy  I  have  ever  seen. 
1  WILL,  and  am  DETERMINED  to  stay  on  the  RIGHT  PATH. 
Hoping  you  will  pray  for  me,  1  remain 

Your  loving  friend, 

Earl  Myron  Hill. 

The  next  letter  is  from  a  bright  boy  in  a  town 
in  South  Dakota.  He  is  the  son  of  prominent 
Methodist  people,  and  bids  fair  to  take  the  place  of 
a  presiding  elder  or  a  bishop  some  day.  He,  with 
other  boys  of  about  twelve  years  of  age  who  were 
interested  in  our  services,  have  organized  a  re- 
ligious "  Boys'  Club,"  and  I  was  with  them  in  one 
of  their  meetings. 

Jan.  I,  1905. 
Mr.  Rust. 

Dear  Sir  :  Our  club  is  getting  along  just  fine.  Otto  and 
Ida  and  Emma  united  with  the  Methodist  church  this  morning. 
I  wish  you  would  write  to  our  club  sometime.  The  girls  told 
me  that  you  wrote  to  their  club.  We  had  a  Christmas  tree 
at  our  club  and  distributed  presents.  A  friend  of  mine  gave 
me  the  name  of  a  poor  boy  in  Randolph,  Minn.,  and  I  am 
sending  him  the  papers  that  1  get  every  week.  I  just  wrote 
to  him,  and  said  that  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  be  a  mis- 
sionary some  day,  even  if  it  is  only  IN  MY  OWN  TOWN. 
Otto  and  I  have  told  some  people  that  we  would  go  in  to- 
gether and  get  a  chapel  car,  and  be  missionaries  when  we  get 
older,  and  we  mean  it.  You  have  done  very  much  good  in 
our  town,  and  I  am  like  that  boy  whose  letter  you  read.  I  am 
determined,  and  1  will  go  in  the  right  path. 

Respectfully  yours, 

HAROLD  Meyer. 

Surely  this  boy  has  ideals  and  knows  what  a 
missionary   is,   and   we   are   glad   that  some  day 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL  AND  YOUNG  PEOPLE        63 

we  shall  have  volunteers  for  extended  chapel-car 
service  and  so  for  making  Christ  l<;nown 

METHODS 

Before  I  close  this  chapter  it  might  be  well  for 
me  to  write  something  concerning  methods  in 
meetings  with  the  boys  and  girls.  1  shall  not  at- 
tempt to  go  into  any  extended  treatment  of  the 
subject,  but  give  in  a  general  way  about  what  my 
experience  has  taught  me  is  the  wisest  way  to 
work  with  our  beloved  young  people. 

In  the  first  place  let  me  say,  that  while  I  believe 
in  a  cheerful  and  bright  good  time  as  we  meet  in 
public  service  with  our  rollicking  boys  and  girls, 
yet  I  have  ever  sought  to  teach  them  what  it 
means  to  be  young  ladies  and  gentlemen,  and  to 
remember  why  we  have  come  together  and  also  to 
have  reverence  for  the  gospel  in  song  and  word 
and  for  God.  As  a  rule  we  have  no  trouble.  They 
are  as  quiet  and  thoughtful  as  could  be  expected. 

I  have  used  the  chalk  (the  blackboard)  a  great 
deal  but  am  not  confined  to  it,  although  I  realize 
that  the  eye  gate  is  very  wide.  We  do  endeavor 
to  win  them  more  or  less  to  ourselves.  I  do  not 
stand  before  them  with  a  stern  or  gloomy  expres- 
sion on  my  face,  nor  jump  at  them  like  a  tiger,  nor 
attempt  to  be  official  and  command  them  as  a  master, 
but  am  willing  and  glad  to  be  one  of  them,  a  little 
older  than  they  are,  but  a  friend  and  very  much 
interested  in  them. 

As  to  specific  methods  in  taking  expressions  in 


64  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

meetings,  let  me  say  that  I  practically  never  ask 
them  to  raise  their  hands  to  express  a  desire  to  be- 
come Christians.  Their  hands  come  up  too  easily, 
and  in  many  instances  it  implies  absolutely  no  in- 
telligent will  purpose.  1  have  often  tested  the 
hand-raising  by  asking  questions  about  other  mat- 
ters, and  many  will  put  up  the  hand  when  I  ask 
for  it,  utterly  regardless  of  the  reasonableness  of 
the  request  or  what  it  implied.  To  my  mind  there 
are  much  better  ways. 

Perhaps  I  could  briefly  describe  my  usual  method 
for  a  week's  meeting  with  them.  Begin  on  Mon- 
day and  show  them  the  value  of  their  lives  in 
God's  sight ;  continue  by  showing  the  awfulness 
of  sin,  as  it  ruins  that  precious  life  ;  reveal  some  of 
the  sins  that  do  spoil  the  soul  and  life  ;  then  show 
them  a  Saviour  living  and  dying  in  order  to  save 
the  life  and  soul  ;  how  he  can  cleanse  and  beautify 
them  and  use  the  life  if  it  is  given  to  him.  Try  to 
have  them  see  that  a  refusal  to  let  Christ  have  our 
hearts  and  lives  means  disaster  and  is  a  sin  of  great 
proportions.  Then  ask  them  if  they  want  Christ 
to  forgive,  and  save  and  use  their  lives.  Tell  them 
that  simply  wanting  to  is  not  enough  ;  they  ought 
to  say  "1  will  yield  my  whole  heart  to  him," 
Believing  that  practically  all  want  to,  and  many 
can  intelligently  say  "  I  will,"  I  ask  them  all  to  bow 
on  the  back  of  pew  in  front,  and  then  in  perfect 
quietness  yield,  each  one  for  himself.  This  is  not 
at  every  meeting,  although  we  always  bow  in 
prayer  before  departing,  but  this  is  at  close  of  the 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL  AND  YOUNG   PEOPLE         65 

fourth  or  fifth  meeting.  I  then  say,  "  Now  those  of 
you  who  feel  that  you  have  fully  yielded  to  Christ 
please  come  to  me  sometime  before  you  go  home 
to-day  and  tell  me,"  and  they  come  slowly,  delib- 
erately, one  by  one,  not  all,  but  always  some. 
The  next  day  we  have  a  quiet  confession  meeting, 
and  on  Sunday  in  the  Sunday-school  they  are  glad 
nobly  to  confess  their  decisions  before  their  friends 
as  they  stand  around  their  pastor  (provided  there  is 
one),  and  this  always  helps  others  to  do  the  same. 
If  we  have  time  we  explain  in  other  meetings  about 
the  church  and  the  Christian  life.  I  shall  never  be 
able  to  thank  God  enough  for  the  privileges  of  these 
years  with  the  boys  and  girls. 


VI 

DEPARTMENT  OF  GOOD  LITERATURE 

PROBABLY  there  was  never  a  time  in  the 
world's  history  when  books  and  papers  were 
read  as  they  are  now.  The  fact  is  the  peo- 
ple did  not  have  them  to  read.  Seventy-five  years 
ago  printing  was  in  its  infancy.  Only  hand-presses 
were  used,  and  there  were  not  enough  of  them  in 
our  whole  country  to  get  out  one  edition  of  the 
present  daily  New  York  papers,  nor  were  there 
enough  mills  in  our  country  to  furnish  paper  for 
one  such  edition.  We  have  progressed  at  a  very 
rapid  rate  in  our  art  of  printing  and  bookmaking. 
This  has  been  both  a  blessing  and  a  curse  to  our 
fair  land.  Every  good  thing  can  be  prostituted  to 
low  purposes,  and  it  is  certainly  true  that  there  has 
been  a  "  devil  "  at  the  press  in  more  senses  than  one. 
Whereas,  seventy-five  years  ago  papers  were  hard 
to  get  and  one  paper  would  be  carefully  read  by  sev- 
eral families,  now  the  New  York  daily  journals 
print  a  million  copies  each  morning  ;  add  to  this  one 
million  five  hundred  thousand  copies  each  evening, 
and  it  is  the  custom  for  one  family  to  have  several 
papers.  As  this  same  advance  has  been  percepti- 
ble in  all  branches  of  literature  we  are  constantly 
confronted  with  a  great  danger  as  well  as  a  great 
66 


DEPARTMENT  OF  GOOD  LITERATURE  67 

opportunity.  Sometimes  I  wonder  what  will  be- 
come of  our  spruce  trees  if  this  is  to  continue.  Nine 
novels  recently  published  in  the  United  States  had 
a  sale  of  one  million  six  hundred  thousand  copies. 
The  books  contain  two  million  pounds  of  paper. 
An  expert  manufacturer  states  that  five  hundred 
pounds  of  paper  can  be  gotten  from  the  average 
spruce  tree,  and  that  these  nine  novels  destroyed 
four  thousand  trees.  When  you  consider  the  al- 
most countless  number  of  novels  that  are  being 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  public  every  month, 
you  can  see  the  forest  of  trees  fall  before  you 
every  year. 

But  this  danger  of  losing  so  many  of  our  trees  by 
the  publication  of  empty  novels  is  nothing  to  be 
compared  to  the  moral  danger  that  is  before  us.  I 
shall  not  take  space  in  this  chapter  to  go  into  any 
extended  discussion  of  the  facts  that  Christian 
workers  have  revealed  concerning  what  kind  of 
literature  is  being  published  and  is  finding  an  en- 
trance into  thousands  of  hands.  It  would  almost 
seem  as  if  the  press,  which  was  used  for  the  first 
time  to  print  parts  of  God's  book,  would  almost 
melt  with  shame  and  become  a  molten  mass  as  it 
beholds  the  sort  of  reading  matter  which  has  come 
from  its  plates.  Such  a  large  proportion  of  the 
produce  of  the  press  comes  from  the  composing 
rooms  of  the  devil  and  his  agents  that  we  are  con- 
vinced that  there  is  hardly  any  agency  in  this  world 
which  does  so  much  harm  along  with  its  good. 

Books  and  papers  receive  the  stamp  of  something 


68  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

more  than  ink.  They  very  evidently  bear  the  im- 
print of  the  character  of  the  author.  They  really 
become  persons,  and  live  with  us  and  touch  hu- 
manity everywhere  with  the  power  of  personal 
contact.  A  thousand  books  from  an  author  simply 
make  that  author,  or  his  impersonated  ideal  which 
he  has  set  forth  in  the  book,  a  thousand  and  more 
persons  to  go  into  the  homes  and  touch  the  lives  of 
the  people  of  the  world.  If  the  author  and  the 
ideals  are  good,  then  the  world  receives  the  in- 
fluence of  a  thousand  lives  of  righteousness  ;  on 
the  other  hand,  if  the  author  and  the  ideals  are  bad, 
then  the  world  receives  the  influence  of  a  thousand 
lives  of  evil.  Oh,  the  marvelous  power  of  books 
for  heaven  or  hell  !  How  we  rejoice  and  tremble 
before  it  at  the  same  moment.  The  character  of 
the  individual,  of  the  home,  of  the  nation,  of  the 
world  depends  upon  what  books  are  read. 

At  times  I  have  personally  been  conscious  of 
something  of  the  methods  that  the  evil  one  was 
employing  in  getting  low  reading  matter  before  the 
eyes  of  the  innocent.  I  was  on  a  train  in  Wiscon- 
sin one  day  when  the  news  agent  stopped  and  whis- 
pered to  me  as  he  put  a  book  before  me,  "Say, 
young  man,  don't  you  want  to  read  something 
rich  ?  "  1  took  the  book  and  looked  at  a  few  lines, 
and  read  the  most  obscene  statements.  I  handed 
it  quickly  back  to  him,  stating  tliat  "  I  did  not  want 
any  such  stuff  to  enter  my  mind."  I  did  not  dream 
that  such  books  were  being  circulated.  It  was 
nothing  but  a  twenty-five  cent  book,  but  the  price 


DEPARTMENT  OF  GOOD   LITERATURE  69 

was  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents.  He  said  that  he 
would  sell  it  for  two  dollars.  He  also  tried  to  get 
me  to  look  at  some  obscene  pictures,  but  I  would 
not  allow  him  to  show  them  to  me.  If  our  inno- 
cent boys  and  young  men  are  constantly  being 
tempted  thus,  think  of  the  fair  lives  that  are  being 
contaminated  by  this  kind  of  literature. 

THE   NEED 

I  wish  to  refer  also  to  the  need  as  I  have  come 
in  contact  with  it.  It  is  true  that  the  rural  mail 
system  is  bringing  the  lonely  home  in  the  country 
very  near  to  the  printing  press,  and  I  have  always 
found  some  intellectual  and  cultured  people  in  the 
small  towns  and  at  times  in  the  country,  who  have 
their  center  tables  well  stocked  with  current  maga- 
zines and  books  and  papers.  Occasionally  I  meet 
with  a  family  away  out  in  the  woods  that  reveals 
to  me  an  interest  in  the  best  reading,  as  one  I 
found  in  the  woods  of  Minnesota,  nine  miles  from 
town,  where  the  father  and  mother  seemed  unusu- 
ally intelligent.  They  could  talk  about  religious 
affairs,  Baptist  conditions,  and  current  questions  of 
the  day,  and  in  answer  to  a  question  as  to  what 
they  read,  they  told  me  The  Standard. 

At  the  same  time  it  is  true  that  in  thousands  of 
homes  in  the  small  towns  and  in  the  country  dis- 
tricts of  the  great  West  they  never  see  anything 
more  than  the  daily  newspaper,  and  in  other  thou- 
sands of  homes  what  literature  they  do  have 
is  of  an  exceedingly  trashy  kind.      Some    homes 


70  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

are  destitute  of  practically  all  reading  matter,  and 
there  is  no  excuse  whatever  for  it.  Often  we  have 
failed  to  find  any  Bible  in  the  house,  and  more  often 
no  good  religious  paper  to  stimulate  the  spiritual 
life.  This  lack  has  been  the  mother  of  ignorance, 
prejudice,  superstition,  and  sin.  Some  parents 
have  been  too  all-forgetful  of  the  importance  of 
reading  matter  in  the  development  of  their  children. 
I  have  been  in  homes  where  the  uncle  was  a  rail- 
road man  and  read  many  novels  of  low  character, 
and  the  mother  looked  upon  her  boy  of  fourteen  as 
he  devoured  those  books  month  by  month,  with 
absolute  indifference.  How  little  she  seemed  to 
realize  that  false  ideas  of  life  were  being  sown  in 
his  young  mind  and  would  almost  certainly  spring 
forth  to  bear  a  terrible  harvest  by  and  by.  I  have 
been  in  town  after  town,  and  found  the  young 
people  completely  ignorant  of  any  reading  which 
could  be  at  all  attractive  to  them,  except  the  ten 
and  twenty-five  cent  novels  of  the  day.  My  heart 
has  ached  to  note  their  dwarfed  and  distorted 
mental  condition,  and  1  can  well  add  their  sad  heart 
condition,  because  they  have  had  such  literature 
as  daily  food. 

THE   NEED  SUPPLIED 

As  I  have  noted,  the  sad  condition  in  so  many  of 
the  homes  in  the  West,  I  have  been  exceedingly 
grateful  to  God  that  there  are  many  publishing 
houses  in  the  land  that  are  seeking  to  supply  this 
need,  and   I   have  been   especially   thankful  that 


DEPARTMENT  OF  GOOD  LITERATURE  71 

the  Baptists  have  a  great  plant  in  Philadelphia 
which  was  built  for  this  very  purpose.  I  have  also 
been  personally  glad  that  I  could  help  in  put- 
ting some  of  the  products  of  this  great  publishing 
institution  into  the  hands  of  the  needy  ones. 

The  thought  in  the  minds  of  those  who  began 
the  work  of  the  organization  now  known  as  the 
American  Baptist  Publication  Society,  was  mainly 
tract  distribution.  If  it  had  been  simply  confined  to 
this  it  would  be  far  from  filling  an  insignificant 
place  in  the  world.  Our  Society  antedated  the 
American  Tract  Society  by  about  a  year,  and  has 
continued  in  its  ever-growing  work  to  give  much 
time,  thought,  money,  and  effort  toward  the  wise 
distribution  of  tracts  and  good  literature  of  all  kinds 
to  the  needy  of  the  world.  While  appreciating  the 
unique  power  of  the  human  voice  in  proclaiming 
gospel  truth,  yet  the  Society  has  ever  believed  that 
there  was  great  potency  in  the  propagation  of  the 
gospel  by  means  of  the  printed  page,  and  it  has  ever 
sought  faithfully  to  do  its  work. 

Whenever  I  think  of  those  two  magnificent  build- 
ings, stocked  with  books  and  literature  of  the  best 
kind,  and  owned  by  the  Baptists  of  our  land,  I  see 
before  me  a  large  railroad  station  with  its  incoming 
and  outgoing  trains.  The  station  was  not  erected 
for  the  trains  or  the  people  to  stay  in  forever,  but  that 
they  might  have  a  convenient  place  to  enter  and  to 
depart  from.  Thus  the  Publication  Society  build- 
ings were  not  erected  to  hold  periodicals  and  books 
forever  until  they  became  moldy  and  useless  on 


72  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

the  shelves,  but  rather  that  it  might  be  a  great 
Baptist  depot,  through  which  the  product  of  con- 
centrated Christian  minds  might  travel  to  enlighten 
and  bless  any  and  all  of  the  human  family. 

Thank  God  for  the  mighty  train  loads  of  Chris- 
tian literature  that  have  rolled  out  of  this  depot 
since  its  erection.  And  these  books  and  tracts  have 
not  been  thrown  out  of  the  train  by  any  mechanical 
devicethat  worked  automatically.  No!  No  I  There 
has  been  a  living  heart  and  a  living  hand  back  of 
each  gift  and  each  sale.  God's  heart  back  of  all, 
and  next  the  noble  line  of  Christian  men  who  have 
toiled  so  faithfully  in  its  many  departments,  and 
also  the  army  of  missionaries  who  have  for  these 
many  years  gone  on  foot,  on  horseback,  or  wagon, 
to  the  homes  of  those  who  needed  the  printed  word 
of  life  and  light.  The  hands  that  distribute  the 
literature  of  this  Society  are  not  cold,  official,  and 
metallic,  but  warm,  sympathetic,  and  loving. 

May  I  ask  if  the  reader  fully  realizes  what  our 
Publication  Society  has  done  since  its  inception  in 
this  work  of  distributing  good  literature  ?  Please 
note  the  following:  Books  sold,  887,581;  books 
given  away,  184,132;  pages  of  tracts  distributed, 
50,077,679 ;  Sunday-schools  aided  by  grants  of 
books,  etc.,  26,852  ;  pastors  and  students  aided  by 
grants,  9,324. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  Society  has  distributed  as 
many  as  one  hundred  thousand  copies  of  the  Scrip- 
tures in  a  single  year,  and  is  sending  out  nearly 
fifty  million  copies  of  quarterlies  and  Sunday-school 


DEPARTMENT  OF  GOOD  LITERATURE  73 

papers  every  twelve  months.  Can  any  one 
measure  the  influence  of  this  glorious  work  of  the 
consecrated  printing  press  ? 

METHOD   OF  SUPPLYING  THE  NEED 

The  greatest  part  of  the  printed  matter  which 
our  Society  sends  out  goes  from  headquarters  and 
the  six  branch  houses,  and  in  the  missionary  de- 
partment the  colporters  and  Sunday-school  mis- 
sionaries distribute  most  of  it,  but  a  very  important 
part  of  the  chapel-car  work  is  found  in  its  oppor- 
tunity of  helping  a  little  in  this  distribution  of  good 
literature. 

The  chapel  car  rolls  into  a  destitute  town  with 
its  lockers  and  bookshelves  well  stocked  with 
papers,  books,  tracts,  and  Bibles.  An  invitation 
is  given  to  all  to  come  into  the  car  and  read. 
Young  men  along  the  line  have  availed  themselves 
of  this  privilege.  We  sell  no  books  under  free 
transportation,  but  tracts  and  books  by  the  thou- 
sands have  been  given  away.  We  have  a  library 
of  about  sixty  volumes  of  the  best  Christian  read- 
ing in  our  chapel  room,  and  at  the  first  meeting  in 
a  small  town  we  tell  the  people  that  these  books 
are  for  them  to  enjoy.  The  missionary  is  often- 
times kept  very  busy  loaning  these  books.  The 
young  people  eagerly  secure  them,  and  sometimes 
each  one  will  read  three  or  four  in  a  week.  They 
did  not  know  such  books  were  in  print.  We  sel- 
dom lose  a  book,  as  they  are  notified  when  the  car 
will  leave.     1  have  seen  them  coming  to  the  car 


74  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

just  before  the  train  was  to  haul  us  out,  walking 
along  the  track  reading  their  books,  anxious  to 
finish  before  the  chapel  car  left.  I  firmly  believe 
that  a  large  number  of  young  people  in  the  North- 
west have  been  influenced  to  noble  purposes  for 
life  through  the  reading  of  these  books. 

The  railroad  men  in  the  shops  and  everywhere 
along  the  line  have  been  the  recipients  of  many 
gifts  of  books  from  the  chapel  cars.  The  Publica- 
tion Society  has  gladly  furnished  tracts,  pamphlets, 
books,  and  Bibles  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  these 
men.  In  addition  to  this  Rev.  A.  P.  Graves,  the 
well-known  evangelist,  has  very  kindly  donated 
hundreds  of  copies  of  his  book,  "  That  Railroad 
Man,"  to  all  the  chapel  cars,  and  the  missionaries 
have  been  glad  of  the  opportunity  to  present  this 
book  to  the  railroad  men  in  the  West.  Mr.  Graves 
came  to  me  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  recently,  and 
asked  if  I  needed  any  more  of  his  books  to  dis- 
tribute. I  told  him  "No."  He  then  said,  "Re- 
member, you  can  have  all  you  want  ;  just  let  me 
know."  He  is  certainly  reaching  a  large  number 
of  men  through  this  kindness. 

I  would  like  to  refer  to  tract  distribution  from  the 
chapel  cars.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  pages  of 
gospel  tracts  have  found  their  way  into  the  homes 
of  the  people  from  the  meetings  and  from  personal 
calls  in  this  work.  When  I  first  started  out  the 
Society  sent  a  great  boxful  to  me,  and  the  other 
cars  have  had  the  same.  I  have  no  space  to  refer 
at  length  to  what  the  power  of  a  single  tract  under 


DEPARTMENT  OF  GOOD  LITERATURE  75 

the  blessing  of  God's  Spirit  is  known  to  be,  but  one 
can  easily  believe  that  much  good  has  been  done 
through  this  feature  of  chapel-car  service. 

One  of  the  most  important  phases  of  the  work  of 
the  Society  is  that  of  scattering  abroad  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  the  chapel  car  has  been  an  effective  me- 
dium through  which  a  part  of  this  great  service  has 
been  accomplished,  if  you  could  visit  the  homes 
of  those  who  have  attended  the  meetings  of  the 
chapel  car  you  would  find  in  a  very  large  number 
of  them  a  Testament  or  a  Bible  with  the  following 
stamp  on  the  inside,  "  Presented  by  the  American 
Baptist  Publication  Society."  An  army  of  boys 
and  girls  have  received  a  copy  of  the  Scriptures  to 
be  their  own. 

in  addition  to  this  all  the  chapel  cars  have  had 
some  nice  leather-bound  teachers'  Bibles  to  give 
away  to  those  whom  the  missionaries  thought  would 
appreciate  them.  These  have  been  the  gift  of  a 
Christian  gentleman  in  the  East.  Hundreds  have 
been  presented  every  year.  This  chapter  would 
be  too  long  if  I  should  attempt  to  write  of  all  the 
lives  made  happy  in  receiving  these  beautiful 
Bibles,  but  I  must  write  of  a  few. 

During  recent  meetings  in  a  small  town  in  the 
State  of  South  Dakota,  a  noble  girl  of  seventeen 
years  happily  yielded  her  whole  heart  and  life  to 
Christ.  Her  home  was  ten  miles  in  the  country. 
I  remember  my  last  conversation  with  her.  I  had 
handed  to  her  a  slip  of  paper,  on  which  were 
printed  many  Scripture  references.    In  response  to 


76  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

a  question  she  said  she  had  no  Bible.  I  said,  "Will 
you  wait  a  moment  ?  I  want  to  give  you  one." 
Into  the  study  I  went  and  brought  forth  one  of  these 
Bibles.  I  wish  you  could  have  seen  her  face  as 
she  saw  it.  I  said,  "  This  is  for  you.  Study  it 
daily,  and  may  God  bless  you."  She  took  my 
hand  and  tried  to  thank  me  but  could  not  say  a 
word,  her  large  eyes  filling  with  tears  as  she  turned 
and  went  out.  She  has  written  to  me  since  and 
thanked  me,  and  informs  me  of  her  baptism  and 
purpose  to  be  all  that  Christ  could  wish  her  to  be. 

in  more  recent  meetings  a  young  man  confessed 
his  need  of  Christ  in  tears,  and  was  soon  happy  in 
his  trust  in  him  as  Saviour  and  Lord.  As  I  gave 
him  the  list  of  verses  he  said  he  had  no  Bible. 
How  his  face  lighted  as  I  presented  him  with  one 
of  these  leather-bound  books. 

In  another  series  of  meetings  a  woman  who  had 
been  brought  up  a  Roman  Catholic  manifested 
some  interest  in  the  Christian  life.  I  called  on  her 
and  prayed  with  her.  She  blushed  as  I  asked 
for  a  Bible,  and  said  "We  haven't  any,  Mr.  Rust." 
She  was  soon  assured  of  her  salvation  and  could 
hardly  find  words  to  thank  me  as  I  gave  her  one 
of  these  beautiful  Bibles.  She  carries  it  with  her 
to  church  every  Sunday. 

How  many  times  I  have  referred  to  and  thanked 
God  for  that  Christian  man  who  has  made  it  possi- 
ble for  us  to  give  these  Bibles  to  the  needy  ones  in 
the  West.  God  will  continue  to  bless  and  reward 
him  most  assuredly. 


DEPARTMENT  OF  GOOD  LITERATURE  ^^ 

A  few  years  ago  this  same  man  purchased  one 
hundred  of  Doctor  Northrup's  book,  "A  Cloud  of 
Witnesses,"  and  gave  them  to  the  chapel  cars  to 
be  used  as  tokens  of  appreciation  for  what  the  rail- 
roads are  doing  for  the  chapel-car  work.  These 
have  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  railroad  presi- 
dents and  general  managers,  who  have  gladly 
accepted  them. 

1  would  also  like  to  mention  a  rather  unique 
phase  of  the  good  literature  work.  During  services 
in  an  Iowa  town  I  found  a  boy  of  fourteen  years  of 
age  waiting  to  talk  with  me  at  the  close  of  the 
afternoon  meeting.  We  went  into  a  room,  he 
fumbled  in  his  inner  coat  pocket  and  pulled  out  two 
or  three  of  the  cheap  five-cent  novels.  As  he 
handed  them  to  me  he  said,  "  My  mother  and  father 
don't  know  that  I  have  been  reading  these  and  I 
want  you  to  burn  them  up  for  I  have  quit  reading 
them,  having  come  to  this  decision  during  these 
meetings."  I  had  a  good  talk  with  that  manly 
boy  and  knew  that  he  would  be  true.  Realizing 
that  thousands  of  boys  were  reading  those  novels  I 
thought  of  a  class  of  reading  published  in  Boston, 
and  printed  in  sensational  style,  but  gotten  up  for 
the  purpose  of  counteracting  this  trashy,  blood  and 
thunder  kind.  Procuring  the  money  I  purchased 
some  of  these  Christian  stories  for  the  young  peo- 
ple and  began  to  scatter  them.  They  were  re- 
ceived and  eagerly  read.  I  am  sure  that  much  good 
was  done.  Not  long  ago  I  met  a  brakeman  whose 
boy  had  received  some  of  these  publications  from 


78  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

me.  This  man  told  me  that  his  boy  was  continu- 
ing to  subscribe  for  them,  and  he  knew  that  the 
other  kind  of  reading  had  no  attractions  for  him.  I 
have  often  wished  that  I  had  more  money  to  use 
in  distributing  these  stories  among  the  boys  and 
girls.  I  might  add  that  the  name  of  the  publisher 
is  E.  Bumsted,  Milk  Street,  Boston,  Mass. 

READING  AND   STUDY 

In  this  chapter  it  would  be  appropriate  to  answer 
the  question  that  has  often  been  asked  me,  namely, 
"  What  time  do  you  get  for  study  and  reading  ?  " 
This  question  very  naturally  arises,  because  chapel- 
car  work  offers  few  moments  for  idleness,  and  it  is 
a  constant  strain  on  the  mind,  sympathies,  and 
nerves.  It  is  a  strenuous  life,  surely.  Sometimes  it 
has  seemed  to  me  that  I  have  lived  twenty  years 
in  the  last  ten. 

The  temptation  to  allow  the  many  calls  to  keep 
you  busy  all  the  time  in  the  actual  work  and  away 
from  the  study,  comes  to  every  man  in  every  field 
of  Christian  service.  The  pastor  in  the  city  has  as 
many  calls  for  outside  work  (if  not  more)  as  the 
evangelist,  yet  he  must  be  in  his  study  or  fail  in 
his  pulpit  ministrations.  I  rather  believe  that  the 
regular  evangelist  has  more  time  to  study  than  the 
pastor.  The  evangelist  who  goes  from  church  to 
church  and  holds  two  meetings  a  day  on  an  aver- 
age, has  little  to  do  outside  of  those  two  meetings. 
But  the  actual  preaching  services  of  the  pastor  are 
a  small  part  of  his  work. 


DEPARTMENT  OF  GOOD  LITERATURE  79 

Tell  me  why  it  is  that  the  evangelist  is  often- 
times considered  the  one  who  does  not  develop 
mentally  or  spiritually  when  compared  to  a  pastor  ? 
There  is  no  reason  why  the  evangelist  cannot  put 
actually  more  time  into  study  and  reading,  if  he 
will.  I  cannot  tolerate  the  thought  that  the  evan- 
gelist honors  his  profession  when  he  never  gets 
beyond  a  few  stock  sermons  and  is  satisfied  to  be 
the  same  mentally  that  he  was  years  ago.  The 
evangelistic  field  offers  unexcelled  opportunities  for 
the  development  of  the  keenest  intellect,  the  dis- 
play of  the  broadest  sympathies,  and  for  growth  in 
highest  Christian  culture.  There  is  absolutely  no 
excuse  for  any  evangelistic  worker  not  studying. 

In  the  chapel-car  work  the  call  to  be  away  from 
the  study  is  exceedingly  loud  and  is  also  con- 
tinuous. The  missionary  on  the  chapel  car  is  ex- 
pected to  be  preacher  at  four  hundred  meetings  a 
year ;  to  be  able  to  call  at  every  home  in  a  large 
parish  in  a  few  weeks  ;  to  help  in  the  cooking  de- 
partment of  his  parsonage  and  the  janitor  work  in 
the  chapel  ;  to  train  and  organize  the  new  material 
into  all  forms  of  Christian  service  ;  to  prepare  them 
for  baptism  and  church-membership  ;  to  lead  in 
raising  money  for  a  new  church  building  ;  to  per- 
sonally go  over  the  country  to  secure  this  money, 
and  to  help  actually  in  the  hauling  of  stone,  laying 
the  foundation,  putting  up  the  building,  and  paying 
the  bills.  All  of  this  to  be  done  in  two  or  three 
months,  and  sometimes  in  six  or  seven  weeks. 
One  can  readily  see  that  his  life  is  similar  to  the 


80  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

busiest  city  pastor.  We  have  held  many  meetings 
in  city  churches  at  times  when  the  car  was  in  the 
shops,  therefore  engaging  in  the  work  of  the  regular 
evangelist,  and  we  have  had  many  years  of  the 
strenuous  service  on  the  chapel  car,  but  at  no  time 
have  I  felt  that  I  could  excuse  myself  for  not 
reading  and  studying. 

I  have  believed  very  sincerely  in  heeding  the 
apostle's  exhortation,  "Give  heed  to  reading" 
(i  Tim.  4  :  13),  and  in  the  truth  of  Carlyle's  words 
when  he  said  "  The  true  university  is  a  great  col- 
lection of  books,"  therefore  in  addition  to  reading 
the  many  weekly  and  monthly  papers  and  maga- 
zines, 1  have  been  able  during  the  last  few  years 
to  read  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  books  a  year. 

It  has  been  my  plan  in  recent  years  to  devote 
certain  hours  each  morning  to  study.  Sometimes 
this  would  be  broken  into,  but  1  have  generally 
been  able  to  stay  at  my  desk  and  typewriter  from 
one  to  three  hours  each  forenoon.  By  doing  this  I 
have  been  able  to  write  a  sermon  or  address  each 
week  in  addition  to  the  other  work.  Sometimes  I 
have  written  ten  new  sermons  in  ten  days  and  deliv- 
ered them,  but  this  is  too  hard,  except  occasionally. 

I  am  willing  to  confess  that,  with  the  plan  of 
reading  and  study  that  I  now  have  in  mind,  there 
will  be  no  moments  in  the  day  when  I  shall  have 
nothing  to  do.  We  must  reserve  some  time  for  de- 
votional reading  and  prayer,  and  I  am  seeking  to 
consecrate  a  portion  of  each  day  to  these  means 
of  grace. 


VII 

MUSIC  DEPARTMENT 

DO  not  think  for  a  moment  that  this  is  an 
insignificant  part  of  our  chapel-car  service. 
While  I  may  be  able  to  record  something 
of  what  music  has  done  to  make  this  phase  of  mis- 
sionary work  successful,  yet  I  am  conscious  that  it 
will  be  impossible  to  write  of  all  that  God  has  done 
through  the  consecrated  voice  in  these  years  of 
Christian  activity.  Many  a  soul  has  found  a  lost 
chord,  others  have  realized  harmony  was  taking 
the  place  of  discord  in  their  lives,  and  still  others 
who  had  remained  untouched  by  every  known 
plea,  have  been  awakened  to  the  noble  and  to 
Christ  through  the  ministrations  of  gospel  song  as 
sung  in  the  chapel  car. 

PLACE  OF  MUSIC  IN  THE  WORLD 

The  ancients  had  a  fable  that  Orpheus,  the  god 
of  music,  was  drowned  in  the  sea,  hence  the  sea  is 
so  musical.  This  fable  would  seem  to  indicate  that 
harmony  had  perished  from  the  world.  But  music 
has  a  large  place  in  the  world  to-day,  and  we  can 
well  pity  the  one  who  cannot  respond  to  it.  It 
seems  to  me  as  if  every  fibre  of  my  being  responds 
to  it.    It  thrills  me.    Sweet  tones  on  any  instrument, 

F  8i 


82  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

harmony  brought  out  by  any  combination  of  voices, 
gives  rise  to  emotions  tiiat  I  cannot  express.  We 
recognize,  however,  that  there  are  some  people 
who  cannot  appreciate  music.  Moody  could  enjoy 
the  words  of  a  song,  but  he  had  great  difficulty  in 
distinguishing  the  tune  of  sacred  music  from  the  tune 
of  Yankee  Doodle.  Some  are  like  the  banker  who 
was  attending  a  Wagner  concert  with  a  soapmaker. 
"Every  man,"  said  the  banker,  "wants  to  do 
something  outside  of  his  own  work."  "Yes," 
answered  the  soapmaker,  "  I  always  wanted  to  be 
a  banker."  "  You  wouldn't  be  a  good  one.  lama 
successful  banker,  but  I  always  wanted  to  write  a 
book.  And  now  here  is  this  man  Wagner  who 
tries  his  hand  at  music.  Just  listen  to  the  stuff. 
And  yet  we  all  know  he  builds  good  parlor  cars." 
These  men  certainly  failed  to  be  intelligently  ap- 
preciative of  some  of  the  best  music  that  has  ever 
been  rendered.  I  rather  think  there  are  some  men 
like  these  on  the  music  committees  of  our  churches. 
But  these  people  are  scarce,  for  the  great  mass  of 
people  in  this  world  to-day  appreciate  or  like  music, 
and  will  go  miles  to  hear  the  famous  bands  and 
soloists  of  our  land. 

Then  is  it  not  correct  that  there  is  some  truth  in 
the  old  fable  of  Orpheus  ?  Hasn't  the  great  sea 
of  sin  swallowed  up  much  of  the  music  of  the  soul 
and  forced  discord  into  our  lives  ?  Is  the  world 
sending  forth  to  God  perfect  chords  of  moral  har- 
mony ?  We  are  obliged  to  confess  that  the  exact 
reverse  is  true.     However,  Jesus  came  to  restore 


MUSIC  DEPARTMENT  83 

harmony  and  heal  all  the  discords  of  life.  The  re- 
ligion of  Jesus  Christ  is  one  of  music  ;  it  can  sing 
and  does  sing,  even  if  some  heathen  jesters  de- 
clared centuries  ago  that  Christianity  was  the  re- 
ligion of  the  sorrowful.  This  statement  was  very 
early,  and  has  continued  to  be,  disproved.  English 
literature  is  full  of  the  lyrics  of  our  Christ,  and 
poets  are  still  looking  for  some  new  song  to  com- 
pose to  his  glory.  The  sublimest  oratorios  have 
received  their  inspiration  and  words  from  Jesus 
Christ  the  man  of  Galilee.  Christianity  has  redeemed 
music  most  assuredly. 

It  is  true  that  in  all  conditions  of  life  the  soul  has 
responded  to  music  when  all  other  influences  have 
failed.  We  have  read  of  a  Grecian  mother  who 
saw  her  child  on  the  brink  of  a  precipice.  To  shout 
to  him  might  only  quicken  his  feet  to  step  still 
closer  to  the  edge,  or  so  startle  the  child  as  to  cause 
him  to  topple  over.  The  mother  with  love  and 
tact  started  a  familiar  air,  and  thus  drew  the  little 
one  to  herself.  Thus  many  a  sinner  wandering  in 
dangerous  places  has  been  won  by  the  Christ  song. 
There  are  very  few  people  in  the  world  who  can 
remain  untouched  while  a  tender,  pleading  song  is 
sung.  You  may  lose  ground  as  you  reason  with 
one,  you  may  get  no  response  as  you  plead,  but 
sing  him  a  song  and  so  often  the  emotions  are 
touched  and  the  will  is  helped  to  move.  There  is 
a  charm,  a  power  about  a  Christian  song  sung  from 
the  heart  that  is  well-nigh  irresistible,  and  God 
alone  fully  realizes  its  far-reaching  influence. 


84  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

There  is  a  familiar  story  of  a  Scotch  soldier  who 
lay  dying  in  one  of  our  hospitals  during  the  civil 
war.  A  minister  went  to  him  (himself  a  Scotch- 
man) to  tell  him  of  Christ  and  his  love.  But  the 
man  turned  his  face  away  and  would  not  listen, 
saying,  "Don't  talk  to  me  about  religion."  The 
minister  was  silent  a  moment,  and  then  he  began 
to  sing  a  hymn  familiar  to  most  in  Scotland.  It 
was  the  beautiful  one  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
beginning, 

O  mother  dear,  Jerusalem, 
When  shall  1  come  to  thee? 

He  sang  it  to  the  tune  of  Dundee.  Nearly  every 
one  in  Scotland  knows  it.  As  he  was  singing  the 
dying  soldier  turned  over  and  said,  "  Where  did  you 
learn  that  .-' "  The  minister  replied,  "Why  my 
mother  taught  me  that."  "  So  did  mine,"  said  the 
soldier,  and  the  very  fountains  of  his  heart  broke 
open  as  he  then  and  there  yielded  himself  to  his  Lord. 
This  only  proves  the  power  of  Christian  song. 

1  have  also  been  impressed  with  the  power  of 
music  in  worship.  Rev.  F.  L,  Chapell,  one  of  my 
beloved  teachers  in  the  Gordon  Training  School, 
told  me  of  his  experience  when  he  was  a  student  at 
Rochester.  Instead  of  going  around  to  different 
churches  to  hear  many  preachers  during  the  year, 
he  settled  on  one  church  with  which  to  worship 
and  went  regularly  every  Sunday.  He  said  that 
he  would  often  go  early  and  take  his  seat  in  the 
auditorium,    and   while    the   organist   was   at   the 


MUSIC  DEPARTMENT  85 

organ,  and  its  rich  music  floated  out  around  him 
filling  the  whole  building,  he  would  bow  his  head 
and  commune  with  his  God.  As  the  organ  thun- 
dered in  the  power  of  its  fulness  he  would  medi- 
tate upon  the  power  of  the  Omnipotent,  Almighty 
(El  Shaddai)  One  ;  as  the  organ  quieted  into  the 
minor  key,  he  would  think  of  the  sin  and  sorrow 
about  him  and  go  with  the  Christ  toward  Golgotha 
and  stand  by  as  they  nailed  his  Saviour  to  the 
cross ;  and  as  the  organist  struck  the  notes  of  the 
major  key  he  would  respond  to  the  chords  of  joy 
and  triumph,  and  thank  God  for  the  risen  Christ 
and  the  victorious  gospel  message  that  he  has  given 
to  this  sin-cursed  world.  Such  was  the  ministry  of 
music  to  him.  He  has  gone  now  to  that  home 
where  there  are  no  discords  but  where  all  is 
sweetest  harmony.  We  hope  to  meet  him  there 
and  join  with  him  in  better  music  than  we  have 
ever  enjoyed  on  earth.  My  reader,  do  we  not  need 
to  pray  that  our  natures  may  be  made  more 
susceptible  to  the  privileges  of  Christian  music  ? 

CHARACTER  AND   STYLE 

There  is  just  as  much  character  and  style  to 
music,  and  to  what  is  called  Christian  music,  as 
there  is  to  the  woman  of  to-day  and  her  dress. 
There  is  a  distinctive  character  and  a  unique  style 
to  what  is  known  as  evangelistic  singing.  Some 
of  it  is  commendable  and  some  of  it  is  to  be  de- 
plored. I  pity  those  whose  constant  musical  diet 
is  taken  from  the  rag-time  popular  sheet  music,  and 


86  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

I  have  been  in  some  homes  where  they  had  nothing 
else.  I  also  pity  those  who  think  that  all  religious 
and  evangelistic  singing  should  be  of  the  hop,  skip, 
and  jump  kind.  Nothing  but  jingle,  jingle,  get 
there  as  fast  as  you  can  with  eighth  and  sixteenth 
notes  thrown  in  so  rapidly  that  you  can  hardly 
twist  your  tongue  around  the  words  and  keep  up 
to  time.  Then  again,  I  pity  those  whose  concep- 
tion of  church  music  forces  them  to  sing  so  mourn- 
fully and  slow  that  they  would  hinder  and  drag 
down  almost  any  inquiring  soul  who  was  anxious 
to  soar  toward  the  joyful  experiences  of  the  Chris- 
tian life.  Without  doubt  there  is  a  happy  medium, 
a  place  for  the  bright,  cheery  songs  of  the  gospel 
and  the  solid  old  hymns  of  the  centuries. 

CHORUS  WORK 

Under  this  heading  I  wish  to  write  briefly  of  the 
place  of  chorus  and  congregational  singing  in  our 
evangelistic  work.  The  singing  in  the  car  has 
been  congregational,  with  a  few  special  singers  at 
the  front  at  times.  In  churches  we  have  been 
able  to  secure  a  good  chorus  at  nearly  every  town 
where  we  have  held  meetings.  \n  most  of  the 
smaller  towns  it  takes  considerable  energy  and 
time  to  train  the  people  to  sing  new  songs.  With 
the  boys  and  girls  we  have  little  difficulty  in  teach- 
ing them  to  sing  almost  anything  we  choose  to. 

We  believe  with  men  like  Mr.  Alexander  that  there 
is  great  power  in  chorus  singing.  But  it  should  be 
conducted  in  a  reverent  manner  and  have  a  deep 


MUSIC   DEPARTMENT  87 

spiritual  tone  to  it.  The  chorus  leader  should  in 
some  way  impress  upon  the  singers  the  thought  of 
praising  God  with  true  heart  reverence  and  love  as 
they  sing.  1  oftentimes  like  to  ask  all  in  the  chorus 
and  congregation  to  bow  in  quietness  (perfectly 
still)  as  we  pray  God  to  bless  us  and  help  us  to 
sing  from  the  heart. 

It  does  not  seem  right  or  helpful  to  the  spirit  of 
the  meeting  to  have  the  chorus  leader  telling  funny 
stories,  or  continuously  making  personal  remarks 
between  verses  which  make  people  laugh  loudly. 
We  do  believe  in  bright,  strong  chorus  and  congre- 
gational singing,  but  always  with  reverential  power 
rather  than  boisterous  noise.  Many  times  we  find 
that  the  best  effect  can  be  produced  at  the  end  of 
the  praise  service  by  the  chorus  singing  quietly 
some  prayer  song,  like  "  Nearer,  Still  Nearer,"  by 
Mrs.  C.  H  .  Morris,  and  the  congregation  quietly 
uniting  in  the  last  verse.  Then  bow  the  head  and 
some  one  lead  in  prayer. 

Personally  we  enjoy  the  solid  old  hymns,  and 
have  used  the  Baptist  Hymnal  as  the  one  song 
book  during  special  meetings  with  churches.  But 
we  gladly  use  any  book  and  any  song  that  can  be 
of  help  in  truly  praising  God. 

SOLO  WORK 

I  am  convinced  that  millions  can  gladly  testify  of 

the  blessing  that  the  gospel  solo  has  been  in  their 

lives.    How  many  times  it  has  been  the  part  of  the 

entire  service  which  impressed  and  helped  most, 


88  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

and  how  its  sweetness  and  power  have  lingered 
through  the  entire  week,  and  even  for  years  ! 
Thank  God  for  the  thousands  of  voices  that  have 
been  used  by  God  to  portray  his  love  and  truth  in 
song.  There  is  unique  power  in  the  consecrated 
human  voice.  No  soloist  should  sing  of  Christ  and 
his  message  of  salvation  carelessly,  or  from  merce- 
nary or  carnal  motives  ;  if  any  one  ought  to  feel 
the  need  of  being  a  genuine  heart  Christian,  it  is 
the  one  who  voices  God's  truth  in  song.  Mrs. 
Rust  has  been  a  soloist  in  our  work  most  of  the 
time,  but  I  have  had  a  number  of  consecrated  young 
men  to  help  me  on  occasions  when  she  could  not  go. 
By  means  of  the  phonograph  I  have  kept  a  record 
of  each  voice. 

One  may  have  a  good  voice  and  be  a  true  Chris- 
tian and  yet  not  be  an  efficient  soloist  in  evan- 
gelistic work.  There  must  be  a  heart  full  of  interest 
in  the  individual  soul  back  of  the  song.  Mrs.  Rust 
sings  to  help  people.  Her  message  in  song  is  as 
important  as  the  preacher's  message  in  word.  She 
prays  about  it,  she  studies  hearer  and  needs,  and 
then  in  a  very  simple  but  whole-souled  way,  lets 
the  voice  speak  for  Christ.  She  endeavors  to 
emphasize  four  things  in  all  her  solo  work. 

I.  Fitness.  She  recognizes  that  it  is  exceedingly 
important  that  the  songs  fit  into  and  add  to  the 
theme  of  the  message.  Her  thought  is  not  to  di- 
vert the  mind  to  her  singing,  but  to  impress  the 
heart  with  the  truth  of  the  sermon.  How  many 
times  the  song  from    her  lips  has  intensified  and 


MUSIC  DEPARTMENT  89 

deepened  the  truth  of  my  sermon  and  cemented 
together  its  entire  construction  and  truth  and  fo- 
cused all  the  points  into  one  !  She  has  clipped  from 
hundreds  of  song  books  during  these  years  and  has 
a  large  collection  of  songs  to  draw  from.  It  matters 
not  what  I  preach  on,  she,  with  keenest  insight, 
seems  to  know  just  what  song  to  sing.  It  matters 
not  where  the  songs  are  secured.  She  takes  them 
from  the  best  sheet  music  or  from  the  hymns  of  the 
Salvation  Army.  Any  song  that  will  fit  when  sung 
in  the  spirit  will  do. 

2.  Enunciation.  You  have  heard  some  soloists 
sing,  and  while  the  tones  were  pitched  perfectly 
you  could  not  hear  the  words,  and  therefore  the 
song  had  no  effect  upon  you.  Some  soloists  think 
only  of  striking  the  correct  tones,  but  the  gospel 
soloist  must  be  careful  to  speak  the  words  very 
distinctly  if  he  would  have  his  song  effective.  Some 
vocal  music  simply  tolerates  the  words,  but  gospel 
songs  many  times  only  tolerate  the  music.  Many 
hymn  writers  have  excelled  the  tune  writers. 
Sometimes  the  tune  is  worth  but  little,  the  words 
much.  Mrs.  Rust  has  taken  the  simplest  and  most 
commonplace  tune  and  made  it  very  effective,  be- 
cause she  enunciates  the  words.  Every  word  is 
heard.  How  many  people  have  spoken  to  her  after 
the  meeting  and  said,  "I  did  enjoy  your  solo  so 
much  because  I  could  hear  every  word  of  it." 

3.  Expression.  I  have  heard  of  a  soloist  who  was 
practising  in  the  presence  of  a  relative,  when  the 
aunt  said,  "  Griselda,  you  ought  not  to  try  to  sing 


90  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

when  you  are  shaking  so  with  the  chills."  "  Why, 
auntie,"  the  girl  answered,  "1  am  not  shaking 
with  the  chilis;  I  am  practising  on  my  tremolo." 
I  am  very  sure  that  there  is  no  "tremolo  chill" 
about  Mrs.  Rust's  solo  work,  but  rather  a  calm, 
quiet  expression  of  a  warm,  spiritual  nature.  Ef- 
fective singing  depends  so  much  on  expression  and 
phrasing.  One  must  note  the  punctuation  marks 
and  the  meaning  of  the  song.  A  singer  can  seldom 
sing  a  song  best  the  first  time.  New  meanings  will 
dawn  on  one  as  she  uses  the  song  again  and  again. 
The  time  is  not  important.  Murder  the  time  if  you 
choose  when  singing  a  solo.  Make  the  eighth 
notes  whole  notes  when  you  think  best.  Put  in  a 
hold  or  a  rest  anywhere  you  consider  it  wise,  but 
get  the  whole  sermon  of  the  song  expressed  at  any 
cost.  Mrs.  Rust  has  used  the  simple  autoharp  much 
as  an  accompaniment,  and  this  has  helped  her 
in  the  expression  greatly.  She  could  play  quietly 
or  loudly  or  not  play  at  all,  to  suit  the  expression 
of  the  song.  The  accompanist  can  show  almost  as 
much  expression  as  the  soloist, 

4.  Heart  Feeling.  1  was  reading  of  a  soloist  who 
had  sung  at  the  church  service  and  was  on  her  way 
home.  On  the  street  car  she  met  a  poor  woman 
who  looked  in  her  face  and  said,  "  Lady,  I  want  to 
tell  you  how  I  likes  your  voice,  it  goes  right  to  my 
heart  and  makes  me  so  happy,  just  as  if  I  had 
heard  the  angels  sing.  I  thank  you."  The  reason 
for  this  effective  singing  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
back  of  the  voice  there  is  a  warm  heart.    The  singer 


MUSIC   DEPARTMENT  9I 

studied  words,  music,  and  the  meaning  of  the  song 
until  it  became  the  experience  of  the  soloist  and 
then  the  voice  simply  poured  forth  the  story  of  a 
heart.  One  can  easily  note  that  it  comes  from  the 
depths  of  her  being  when  Mrs.  Rust  sings.  Other 
hearts  feel  it  then  and  the  song  reaches  the  mark. 

These  four  qualities  of  solo  singing  are  what  gave 
Sankey  and  Bliss,  and  now  give  Stebbins,  Towner, 
and  other  soloists  their  power.  Only  eternity  will 
reveal  how  many  souls  have  been  comforted,  in- 
spired and  helped  heavenward  by  God's  use  of 
Mrs.  Rust's  voice. 

The  following  is  an  editorial  from  one  of  the  daily 
papers  at  Owatonna,  Minn.,  in  1904  : 

SONG,    SWEET  SONG 
Lorenzo  in  the  Merchant  of  Venice  is  made  to  say : 

But  music  for  the  time  doth  change  his  nature. 
The  man  that  hath  no  music  in  himself, 
Nor  is  not  moved  by  concord  of  sweet  sounds, 
Is  fit  for  treason,  stratagems,  and  spoils  ; 
The  motions  of  his  spirit  are  dull  as  night. 
And  his  affections  as  dark  as  Erebus ; 
Let  no  such  man  be  trusted. 

And  some  one  else  has  said  :  "  Let  me  but  make  the  songs 
of  a  people  and  I  care  not  who  may  make  the  laws." 

Music  is  the  soul  of  poesy,  and  by  this  means  the  higher 
inspirations  for  good  are  carried  to  the  masses,  and  the  seeds 
there  planted  shall  some  day  bring  forth  an  abundant  harvest. 

Thrice  blest  is  he  who  hath  this  gift  of  song. 

And  many  more  might  have  it  if  they  would  but  cultivate 
the  spirit  of  it.  Music  is  an  outburst  of  the  soul  in  gladness. 
Through  music  the  joy  of  the  heart  finds  expression.  It  is  as 
natural  as  laughter,  and  as  simple.  When  one  is  listening 
for  a  few  moments  to  the  song  of  a  master  he  is  amazed  at  its 


92  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

simplicity.  How  perfect  it  is  in  all  its  details  !  The  melody, 
the  harmony,  the  theme,  the  intonation,  the  words,  the  ac- 
cent, the  enunciation — all— how  simple,  how  perfect,  and 
how  easily  understood. 

Those  who  have  listened  to  the  singing  of  Mrs.  Rust  at  the 
"  Meetings  to  Help  People  "  at  the  Baptist  church  will  know 
what  is  meant.  How  simple  and  plain  and  unaffected  is  all 
her  work,  and  yet  how  masterful.  She  sings  as  though  she 
had  a  message  to  give  to  the  people  and  was  giving  it  so  that 
all,  even  the  simplest  might  hear  and  understand.  No  pre- 
tense of  art — no  show  of  art — nothing  but  song,  sweet  song, 
coming  from  one  heart  and  going  out  to  the  many.  No  show 
of  self,  no  attempt  at  an  exhibition  ;  nothing  but  an  echo  of 
spirit,  of  a  glad  heart,  a  heart  that  would  help  people.  Truly, 
it  is  good  to  stand  in  such  a  presence  and  listen  to  so  sweet 
and  tender  and  so  unaffected  a  message. 

Under  such  an  inspiration  it  may  truly  be  said  of  those 
whose  hearts  have  been  reached  by  her  message,  that  "  Music 
for  the  time  doth  change  his  nature."  And  the  soul  that  is 
not  moved  by  the  concord  of  sweet  sounds  as  interpreted  by 
her,  would  surely  be  fit  for  "treasons,  stratagems,  and 
spoils,"  and  surely  should  not  be  trusted.  And  if  there  were 
more  such  sweet  singers  it  would  not  matter  so  much  what 
our  laws  were.  Our  hearts  and  our  lives  would  be  right  and 
the  people  would  surely  be  helped. 

In  addition  to  this  beautiful  tribute  to  the  power 
of  a  simple  song  we  read  of  an  incident  of  our 
series  of  meetings  that  was  recorded  in  the  same 
paper.  It  seems  that  two  young  men  came  in  from 
a  neighboring  town  to  attend  a  "show"  in  the 
opera  house  which  is  very  near  the  Baptist  church. 
Before  going  to  the  "show"  they  visited  several 
saloons,  and  by  eight  P.  M.  were  in  anything  but 
a  gentlemanly  condition.  Being  directed  to  the 
opera  house,  they  by  mistake  got  into  the  Baptist 


MUSIC  DEPARTMENT  93 

church  building.  Both  structures  were  large  brick 
buildings  near  the  court  house,  and  they  could 
easily  make  the  mistake  when  under  the  influence 
of  liquor.  They  stayed  until  the  close  of  the  meet- 
ing and  returned  to  their  homes.  When  asked  the 
next  morning,  "How  did  you  like  the  show?" 
they  replied,  "Oh,  we  have  seen  better  shows  in 
our  own  town,  but  the  leading  lady  was  a  fine 
singer."  Up  to  this  time  I  had  never  been  accused 
of  being  in  the  "show"  business  and  Mrs.  Rust 
had  never  been  called  a  "leading  lady." 

During  these  years  God  has  marvelously  blessed 
this  consecrated  voice.  Mrs.  Rust  is  conscious 
that  her  voice  hasn't  the  culture  and  power  which 
is  acquired  by  long  years  of  training,  but  the  many 
kind  words  from  those  who  have  been  helped  by 
her  singing  only  prove  that  God  can  use  an  or- 
dinary voice  if  it  is  given  to  him.  My  heart  has 
ached  as  I  have  met  young  men  and  women  who 
had  remarkable  talent  in  their  voices,  yet  had  been 
totally  irresponsive  to  the  call  from  God  and  have 
wasted  those  voices  in  their  devotion  to  ragtime 
and  superficial  music.  Others  whom  I  have  met 
have  gladly  consecrated  this  talent  to  their  Lord 
and  are  to-day  being  greatly  used  of  him. 

In  closing  this  chapter  I  will  mention  a  few  sim- 
ple incidents  that  reveal  the  blessing  of  God  upon 
the  consecrated  singing  in  the  chapel  car. 

During  a  men's  meeting  I  noticed  a  rough-looking 
young  man  crying  while  Mrs.  Rust  was  singing.  As 
he  passed  outside  and  walked  with  a  friend  by  the 


94  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

side  of  the  car  I  could  hear  them  talking,  as  the  win- 
dows were  open.  The  friend  was  chiding  and  ridicul- 
ing him,  and  finally  asked  him  what  he  was  bawling 
about.  I  heard  him  say,  "Well,  how  could  a  fel- 
low help  it  ?  A  man's  heart  must  be  like  stone  if 
he  couldn't  feel  like  wanting  to  live  better  after 
hearing  her  sing." 

During  another  series  in  a  Minnesota  town  we 
had  called  at  the  home  of  a  poor  man  in  the  coun- 
try. In  the  evening  he  came  to  the  living  room  of 
the  chapel  car  before  meeting,  and  said,  "  You  came 
out  to  see  our  shack  to-day  and  1  thought  I  would 
come  in  early  and  take  a  look  at  yours."  We  gladly 
let  him  look  over  our  apartments,  and  talked  with 
him  about  being  a  Christian.  I  think  he  was  truly 
convicted,  but  he  was  not  willing  to  yield.  He 
stayed  through  the  meeting  that  night,  but  seemed 
unmoved  as  I  asked  those  who  wanted  to  be  Chris- 
tians to  come  forward.  During  the  after  meeting  I 
asked  Mrs.  Rust  to  sing  a  touching  solo  while  I  was 
pleading.  He  sat  there,  deep  in  thought  as  she 
quietly  sang,  and  I  saw  him  move,  get  up,  take  off 
his  great  fur  coat,  and  walk  nobly  down  the  aisle. 
His  eyes  filled  with  tears  as  he  took  my  hand  and 
said,  "  I  could  not  stay  there  while  she  sung  ;  I  had 
to  come." 

Then  I  recall  how  all  through  these  years  Mrs. 
Rust  has  walked  miles  to  sing  at  hospitals,  at  homes 
for  the  aged,  in  private  homes  where  there  were 
sick  people,  and  at  so  many  funerals  ;  how  she 
has  gone  from  house  to  house  in  the  country  and 


MUSIC  DEPARTMENT  95 

sung  the  gospel  story  into  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
She  is  grateful  to  her  Lord  that  he  could  use  her 
voice  to  help  these  sorrowing  ones,  and  she  con- 
tinues to  ask  him  to  make  her  a  blessing  to  some 
one  every  day. 

This  chapter  must  not  be  closed  without  mention- 
ing the  fact  that  a  number  of  godly  young  men 
have  rendered  valuable  service  as  my  assistants 
when  Mrs.  Rust  could  not  go.  God  certainly  used 
their  consecrated  voices.  1  gladly  refer  to  them. 
To-day  as  I  think  of  them  I  pray  God's  richest 
blessing  upon  each.  Five  of  them  are  efficient 
pastors  in  the  West,  one  of  them  has  recently  gone 
to  Porto  Rico,  two  of  them  are  in  business,  and 
one  is  a  well-known  gospel  singer. 


VIII 

RAILROAD  DEPARTMENT 

THIS  chapter  very  pertinently  takes  its  place  in 
this  book.  Chapel  cars  and  railroads  are  very 
closely  linked  together.  The  car  would  be 
useless  without  the  railroad.  In  the  providence 
of  God  our  country  has  been  covered  with  a  net- 
work of  steel,  and  this  fact  made  chapel-car  work 
possible.  Surely  this  form  of  Christian  service  is 
railroading  from  beginning  to  the  end  of  each  year. 
The  closest  affiliation  is  needed  to  make  the  work 
a  success.  If  it  fails  here  the  service  is  doomed. 
Many  are  the  demands  of  the  public  upon  the 
transportation  companies.  We  have  ever  sought 
to  have  our  work  anything  but  a  demand  for  favors, 
but  rather  have  we  tried  to  make  the  car  work  a 
part  of  their  life — something  that  they  would  feel 
was  theirs,  not  something  forced  upiDn  them  that  has 
no  rightful  place  on  the  rails,  but  a  work  that  would 
seem  to  the  officials  and  all  a  commendable  and 
pleasing  feature  of  railroad  service.  We  believe 
that  keen,  level-headed  railroad  officials,  who  un- 
derstand the  nature  of  the  chapel-car  work,  and 
have  come  in  actual  contact  with  it,  would  state 
that  we  do  not  need  to  apologize  for  being  on  their 
lines.  We  deserve  a  place  there,  and  therefore 
96 


Kaii.koau  M?:n  Oit^ide  thk  Car  Page  96 


Railroad  Men  Inside  the  Car  Page  1C3 


RAILROAD   DEPARTMENT  97 

are  not   foreign   to   railroad   life,   indeed   form   an 
integral  part  of  it. 

GROWTH  OF  RAILROADS 

It  is  certainly  very  interesting  to  note  the  mar- 
velous progress  which  has  been  made  in  railroad 
life  since  its  inception  less  than  a  hundred  years 
ago.  In  the  year  1822  the  first  charter  for  a  rail- 
road in  this  country  was  secured.  It  was  for  a  line 
from  Philadelphia  to  a  point  on  the  bank  of  the 
Susquehanna  river,  but  it  was  never  built.  When 
the  announcement  of  the  project  was  made  in  one 
of  the  Baltimore  papers  some  one  wrote  to  the 
editor  and  asked.  What  is  a  railroad  anyhow  ?  The 
editor  replied  that  he  did  not  know. 

Seven  years  later,  in  1G29,  the  first  locomotive 
was  run  on  a  little  wooden  track  along  the  Lacka- 
waxen  creek.  The  trial  was  not  successful,  how- 
ever, and  for  a  number  of  years  the  trains  or 
coaches  were  drawn  by  horses.  When  the  Balti- 
more and  Ohio  Railroad  Company  started  out  its 
first  locomotives  it  put  sails  on  them  that  the  wind 
might  help  when  it  was  blowing  the  right  way. 
The  first  time-table  read  like  this  :  "  This  locomo- 
tive will  leave  this  depot  at  8  A.  M.  each  morning, 
providing  the  weather  is  pleasant." 

Slow  progress  was  made  up  to  the  year  1850,  for 
at  that  time  there  were  not  nine  thousand  miles  of 
track  in  the  entire  country.  Since  then  the  de- 
velopment has  been  almost  phenomenal.  Since 
1850  there   has   been  enough  railroad  track  con- 

G 


98  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

structed  to  reach  more  than  eight  times  around  the 
globe.  If  the  second  rail  were  used  we  have  con- 
structed enough  to  make  a  single  steel  line  to  the 
moon. 

There  are  about  one  million  five  hundred  thou- 
sand railroad  men  in  service  in  this  country  to-day. 
If  each  of  these  men  support,  on  an  average,  four 
people,  then  one  person  in  every  fourteen  in  our 
country  is  supported  by  the  railroad  interests.  We 
are  really  in  the  beginnings  of  this  advanced 
movement,  and  the  next  hundred  years  certainly 
will  reveal  unthought-of  progress. 

The  presidents  and  officials  of  these  eight  hun- 
dred railroad  companies  of  our  country  are  known 
to  be,  in  most  instances,  men  of  character,  with 
large  mental  endowments,  and  worthy  of  holding 
the  high  positions  that  they  do.  While  some  may 
be  justly  accused  of  thinking  of  the  "dollar,"  no 
matter  how  they  get  it,  there  are  many  of  them 
who  are  generals  in  this  mammoth  industry  and  are 
really  endeavoring  to  devote  their  time  to  perfect- 
ing the  science  of  transportation,  which  is  important 
in  the  development  of  this  great  country. 

The  Railway  Age  says :  "  One  of  the  perils  of 
our  railways  under  the  trend  of  events  in  recent 
years  has  been  the  excessive  domination  of  Wall 
Street  influences.  There  has  been  danger  of  too 
much  financing  and  too  little  real  railroading,  too 
much  regard  to  the  technicalities  of  the  balance 
sheet  and  too  little  substantial  progress  in  the 
science   of  transportation." 


RAILROAD   DEPARTMENT  99 

These  noble  men  are  seeking  to  overcome  this 
danger.  They  are  also  interested  in  every  good 
work.  We  have  been  in  personal  touch  with  many 
of  these  men,  and  while  nearly  all  have  been  con- 
siderate of  our  work,  some  of  them  have  been  ex- 
ceedingly kind  to  us.  We  had  worked  in  a  town 
in  Wisconsin  for  a  few  weeks.  About  a  year  after 
I  wrote  to  the  agent  there  telling  him  that  we  were 
thinking  of  stopping  again  and  requesting  a  certain 
side-track  if  he  could  conveniently  "spot"  the  car 
there.  He  sent  a  message  to  me  the  next  day, 
which  read  like  this  :  "  Your  letter  received  on  No.  2 
to-day.  You  may  have  any  track  you  want  except 
the  main  line.  If  this  won't  do  we  will  build  one 
that  will."     This  reveals  the  kindness  of  the  agents. 

I  would  now  like  to  give  you  an  incident  which 
manifests  the  kindness  of  the  officials.  Mrs.  Rust, 
with  baby  Ruth  and  I  had  been  working  hard  in  a 
little  churchless  town  in  southern  Wisconsin.  We 
finished  our  work  there  just  before  Christmas  and 
wanted  to  get  to  St.  Paul  as  soon  as  we  could.  Ar- 
rangements were  made  through  the  division  super- 
intendent to  have  our  car  hauled  on  a  local  passenger 
train  for  part  of  the  distance  and,  as  they  never 
hauled  our  car  on  the  "  limited,"  they  were  to  haul 
us  into  St.  Paul  on  another  local  passenger  train 
the  next  day.  Soon  after  leaving  the  little  town 
the  general  manager's  car  was  put  on  behind  ours, 
and  he  and  his  officials,  at  my  request,  came  in  and 
called  on  us  in  the  chapel  car.  This  general  man- 
ager had  several  children  and  soon  was  bouncing 


100  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

Ruth  on  his  knee.  We  had  a  pleasant  chat  with 
him  and  explained  the  work  of  the  car  to  him  fully. 
He  and  his  officials  went  back  into  their  car,  and  in 
a  few  moments,  much  to  our  surprise,  his  division 
superintendent  came  in  and  said  that  the  general 
manager  had  given  orders  for  No.  3,  the  "  limited," 
to  "pick  us  up"  and  take  us  to  St.  Paul.  That 
general  manager  had  noted  how  tired  Mrs.  Rust 
was,  and  out  of  the  goodness  of  his  heart  had  ar- 
ranged for  this  so  that  we  could  get  in  earlier.  He 
has  been  kind  to  us  in  many  ways  all  through  these 
ten  years.  That  division  superintendent  was  always 
trying  to  help  us  in  our  work.  He  was  a  noble 
man  and  beloved  by  all.  He  has  gone  to  his  heav- 
enly home.  Words  cannot  express  the  feelings  of 
my  heart  as  I  think  of  the  kindness  of  this  general 
manager  (who  is  president  now)  and  his  officials 
during  these  many  years. 

1  must  also  mention  the  fact  that  engineers  (some 
of  them  devoted  Christians),  firemen,  trainmen,  con- 
ductors, and  all,  have  in  most  instances  done  their 
utmost  to  make  our  life  on  the  rails  a  happy  one. 

There  has  never  been  a  day  in  the  history  of 
chapel-car  work  when  our  service  was  thought  more 
of  than  it  is  to-day.  Many  of  my  readers  know 
that  our  chapel  car  "Messenger  of  Peace"  was 
in  the  St.  Louis  Exposition  for  seven  months  and 
thousands  of  visitors  examined  its  equipment  and 
inquired  into  its  work.  One  day  about  fifteen 
prominent  railroad  officials  of  our  country  who  had 
been  appointed  on  the  committee  of  judges  to  decide 


RAILROAD   DEPARTMENT  lOI 

about  the  awarding  of  medals  filed  into  the  car,  the 
doors  were  locked,  and  for  an  hour  they  examined 
into  every  detail  of  its  construction,  purpose,  and 
work.  No  better  missionaries  than  Rev.  J.  P. 
Jacobs  and  wife  could  have  met  them  and  answered 
their  many  questions.  When  the  time  came  for 
awarding  the  medals  this  committee  had  difficulty 
in  deciding  what  to  do  about  the  chapel  car  because 
it  was  not  there  to  enter  into  competition  with  any 
other  car  of  similar  kind.  The  Anheuser-Busch 
Brewery  car  was  beside  it,  but  they  could  not  put 
the  two  in  the  same  class.  At  first  these  judges 
decided  that  the  best  they  could  do  was  to  give  it 
honorable  mention  ;  then  one  prominent  official 
arose  and  said  that  he  believed  it  was  deserving  of 
something  better  than  that,  and  he  would  like  to 
make  a  motion  that  they  present  the  Society  with 
a  silver  medal.  The  vote  was  taken  and  the  silver 
medal  goes  to  "  iWessenger  of  Peace,"  This  fact 
certainly  reveals  what  thoughtful  railroad  men 
think   of  the   chapel   car. 

Thus  the  chapel  car  is  a  railroad  institution  and 
the  missionary  is  a  railroad  man.  He  lives  on  the 
rail  more  than  many  train  men.  He  is  identified 
with  the  one  and  one-half  million  of  men  who  are 
known  as  railroad  men.  While  not  being  officially 
connected  with  the  brotherhood,  yet  he  is  one  of 
them.  He  works  side  by  side  with  them,  cleaning 
the  car  or  in  any  other  honorable  position.  There 
is  no  chasm  between  them.  Oftentimes  there  is 
genuine  fellowship  and  sometimes  Christian   fel- 


102  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

lowship.  He  never  tries  to  get  them  into  trouble 
by  reporting  trifles,  but  ever  seel<s  to  get  them  out 
of  trouble.  1  remember  that  a  brakeman  had  given 
his  signals  to  back  the  train  in  near  a  loading  dock. 
The  chapel  car  was  too  long  to  make  the  curve 
without  touching,  and  the  result  was  that  the  new 
varnish  was  scratched  for  eighteen  feet.  I  did  not 
know  how  or  where  it  was  done.  One  day  the 
brakeman  called  and  told  me  he  felt  badly  about  it 
and  decided  that  he  must  come  and  confess  that  he 
did  it.  Do  you  think  that  I  would  report  him  ?  I 
have  never  known  of  one  instance  of  a  train  man 
maliciously  injuring  my  car.  We  seek  to  help  them 
in  switching  and  cleaning,  building  new  spur  tracks, 
and  in  every  way  possible.  We  want  to  be  any- 
thing but  a  nuisance  to  the  train  crews.  Coming  in 
contact  with  them  has  been  a  blessing  in  more  ways 
than  one.  I  like  the  "system  "  that  characterizes 
their  work.  Every  one  under  "  orders."  No  guess 
work  or  haphazard,  slipshod  business.  How  we 
need  this  in  our  Christian  work  I 

ACTUAL  WORK  AMONG  THE  MEN 

The  chapel  car  was  not  designed  to  work  among 
the  railroad  men.  The  possibilities  along  this  line 
developed  after  the  work  was  started. 

I  always  seek  to  impress  upon  the  men  the  fact 
that  we  do  not  hold  meetings  for  them  because  they 
are  known  to  be  a  "  bad  lot  "  and  much  worse  than 
other  men.  We  go  to  them  not  because  they  are 
RAILROAD  men  but  because  they  are  MEN  on  rail- 


RAILROAD  DEPARTMENT  103 

roads.  They  have  temptations,  burdens,  sorrows, 
and  needs  common  to  all  mankind,  and  oftentimes 
they  do  not  have  as  many  church  privileges  as  some 
other  men.  Then  again,  if  they  have  gotten  out  of 
the  way  of  going  to  church  the  meetings  in  a  car 
might  appeal  to  them  more  than  the  ordinary  church 
building  would.  We  have  found  this  to  be  true, 
for  men  have  told  me  that  the  service  in  the  car 
was  the  first  religious  meeting  they  had  attended 
for  many  years. 

MEETINGS  AT  YARDS  AND  SHOPS 

Often  have  we  held  meetings  in  the  yards  where 
the  cars  are  cleaned  and  the  trains  made  up.  The 
men  have  gathered  for  a  thirty-minute  song  service 
at  the  noon  hour.  A  short  talk,  prayer,  and  solo 
have  helped  them  to  go  back  to  their  work  with  a 
purpose  to  be  faithful  and  true  to  their  Lord.  The 
car  is  used  at  the  "  shops  "  at  the  noon  hour.  It  is 
side-tracked  near  the  door  of  some  large  building 
where  many  men  are.  In  some  of  these  shops 
there  are  five  hundred  men.  The  invitation  is  sent 
out  on  a  printed  slip,  "Come  just  as  you  are." 
They  eat  a  hurried  lunch,  let  the  "smoke"  go, 
and  rush  to  the  car  at  12.20  just  as  they  are,  with 
bare  arms,  begrimed  faces,  and  overalls  on.  Often- 
times we  have  had  more  than  a  hundred  men  in  the 
car  each  noon.  This  isn't  removing  the  church  to 
the  suburbs,  but  literally  moving  it  to  the  people. 
We  always  make  much  of  the  singing,  both  in  solo 
and  by  the  congregation.    How  these  men  will  sing. 


104  A  CHURCH   ON   WHEELS 

Scripture  is  read,  a  short  talk  on  such  subjects  as 
"The  Main  Line,"  "The  Wreck,"  "Orders," 
"On  Time,"  "  Danger  Signals,"  and  other  similar 
topics  is  given,  a  solo  and  a  quiet  season  of  prayer 
follow,  and  the  meeting  closes  at  12.55  noon.  As 
the  men  pass  out  the  missionary  has  a  tract  for 
each  one  each  day,  and  the  last  day  a  copy  of 
Proverbs  or  Gospel  of  John  is  given  to  each  man 
to  remember  the  car  by  as  he  carries  the  book 
daily  in  his  vest  pocket.  Thus  seed  is  sown  that 
will  surely  bear  fruit. 

These  shop  meetings  are  always  in  large  towns 
or  cities  at  division  points.  We  hold  afternoon  and 
evening  meetings  in  the  church  building  during  our 
stay  in  the  town  (three  meetings  a  day),  thus  en- 
deavoring to  invite  the  laboring  man  to  the  privileges 
of  the  church  of  Christ. 

We  know  that  much  good  is  done  in  these  "shop" 
meetings.  At  a  series  of  meetings  at  a  town  in 
Wisconsin  where  we  had  delightful  times  with  the 
shop  men  I  noticed  that  a  man  came  in  and  sat  on 
the  rear  seat  every  noon  and  remained  there  until 
12.43  o'clock,  then  hurried  out.  1  ascertained  that 
he  had  to  go  out  to  blow  the  whistle  at  12.45,  ^s  he 
was  the  engineer  at  the  shops.  1  wondered  whether 
he  was  getting  any  good  from  the  meetings  or  not. 
The  last  day  came.  The  men  had  all  filed  out  and 
some  were  in  tears  as  they  passed  me  after  I  had 
taken  their  hands  and  given  to  each  a  book.  This 
engineer  returned  after  blowing  his  whistle  and 
came  to  me.     I  took  his  hand  and  said,  "  Good-bye. 


RAILROAD  DEPARTMENT  105 

God  bless  you."  He  looked  into  my  face  and  said, 
as  his  voice  choked,  "  Mr.  Rust,  1  want  to  thank 
you  for  these  meetings.  I  cannot  go  to  church  very 
much,  as  I  am  obliged  to  look  after  my  engine  every 
Sunday,  but  I  want  you  to  know  that  these  meet- 
ings have  helped  me  much,  and  the  other  day  I 
went  in  and  kneeled  by  my  engine  and  told  my 
Lord  I  would  yield  myself  to  him." 

I  was  boarding  a  street  car  in  St.  Paul  one  day 
when  a  woman  grasped  my  arm  and  exclaimed, 
"Mr.  Rust."  I  did  not  know  what  I  had  done  to 
be  caught  thus  in  such  a  public  place  and  felt  a  little 
embarrassed.  She  relieved  my  mind  by  saying, 
"  You  are  the  man  that  held  meetings  out  at  the 
railroad  shops.  Well,  I  want  to  tell  you  that  my 
husband  was  converted  through  you  and  he  is  living 
a  happy  Christian  life  and  has  united  with  the 
church."  I  answered,  "  Praise  the  Lord.  I  am 
glad  enough  to  know  that  God  helped  and  saved 
your  husband."  She  left  me  and  I  went  to  my 
seat  in  the  car  and  soon  passed  the  very  shops 
where  that  man  had  been  converted.  I  felt  a  special 
joy  in  my  soul  and  lifted  my  heart  in  gratefulness 
to  God  for  using  us  to  help  men,  and  I  also  thanked 
him  for  dear  old  "  Glad  Tidings."  Surely  we  have 
had  reason  to  believe  that  the  chapel  cars  have  a 
mission  to  help  railroad  men.  We  have  found  the 
men  very  appreciative  of  our  work.  They  have 
always  sent  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  officials  of  the 
company  at  the  end  of  our  meetings. 

I  will  copy  one,  which  will  serve  as  a  sample  : 


I06  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

We,  the  employees  of  the  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis, 
and  Omaha  Railroad,  in  meeting  assembled,  do  hereby  desire 
to  extend  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rust,  of  the  chapel  car  "  Glad 
Tidings,"  our  earnest  appreciation,  respect,  and  love  for  the 
good  we  have  received  from  their  teachings. 

We  sincerely  hope,  God  willing,  that  we  shall  meet  again 
in  the  near  future  to  renew  the  pleasant  and  profitable  meetings 
just  ended.  We  also  desire  to  extend  our  thanks  to  the  offi- 
cials of  our  company  for  giving  the  chapel  car  trackage  at  our 
shops,  for  it  has  been  a  blessing  to  all. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  the  above  resolutions  be  sent  to  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Rust,  Mr.  W.  A.  Scott,  our  General  Manager,  and 
Mr.  J.  C.  Stewart,  General  Superintendent. 

[Signed]  DUNCAN  F.  ERSKINE, 

President  of  the  meeting. 
Edward  R.  Johnson, 
Secretary  of  the  meeting. 
I  can  cheerfully  certify  to  the  above. 

J.  J.  Ellis,  Master  Mechanic. 
St.  Paul,  Minn.,  Jan.  ly,  1899. 

THE  TOUCH  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  MAN 

In  addition  to  the  work  among  the  men  at  the 
shops  there  is  the  touch  of  the  individual  railroad 
man  as  we  come  in  contact  with  him  in  the  regular 
meetings  and  in  personal  conversation  all  along  the 
line.  Seldom  do  we  hold  a  series  of  meetings  with- 
out seeing  some  man  who  lives  on  the  line  touched 
and  helped  into  the  Christian  life.  All  classes  have 
been  converted,  from  section  men  to  conductors 
and  dispatchers.     I  will  mention  a  few. 

I.  A  Section  Foreman.  In  a  little  town  in  Min- 
nesota, where  there  were  but  a  dozen  houses  clus- 
tered near  a  depot,  we  were  side-tracked  some  nine 


RAILROAD  DEPARTMENT  107 

years  ago.  We  found  the  people  without  religious 
privileges,  there  being  no  Sunday-school  or  church. 
The  section  foreman  and  his  family  lived  near  the 
station.  He  with  many  other  men  there  had  no 
regard  for  the  things  of  God.  Sundays  in  summer 
were  spent  in  sports  and  he  was  very  profane. 
His  boys  seldom  heard  him  speak  without  an  oath. 
He  was  far  from  being  the  man  he  ought  to  be  in 
his  home.  The  meetings  were  well  attended,  the 
car  being  filled  to  overflowing  many  nights.  The 
foreman  attended  nearly  every  meeting  and  was 
soon  under  deep  conviction  of  sin.  He  could  not 
sleep  nights  and  could  hardly  work  during  the  day. 
As  I  gave  the  invitation  one  evening  for  all  who 
wanted  to  be  Christians  to  confess  it,  he  arose  and 
sobbingly  said:  "If  God  will  only  forgive  me,  I 
will,  by  his  grace,  live  a  better  life."  A  new  power 
came  into  his  soul  and  he  immediately  manifested 
it  to  his  loved  ones  and  to  those  whom  he  worked 
with.  His  home  was  greatly  changed.  Bible  read- 
ing and  prayer  were  taken  up.  His  wife  became  a 
Christian.  They  both  united  with  the  church  which 
was  soon  after  organized.  He  became  superin- 
tendent of  the  Sunday-school.  During  these  years 
he  has  made  many  failures  as  we  all  have,  but  I  am 
confident  that  he  is  endeavoring  to  serve  his  Lord 
conscientiously  and  that  he  is  doing  his  work  on  the 
road-bed  faithfully.  He  and  his  wife  have  brought 
up  a  noble  family  of  four  boys  and  one  girl,  and 
these  children  have  had  the  example  of  godly 
parents. 


I08  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

2.  A  Gravel-pit  Foreman.  About  eight  years  ago, 
during  meetings  in  southern  Wisconsin,  a  man  who 
was  foreman  of  the  gravel-pit  crew  attended  the 
meetings  regularly  and  became  interested  in  his 
own  salvation  from  sin.  After  about  a  week's 
services  had  passed,  I  had  a  personal  talk  with  him 
and  he  bowed  before  his  God  and  pleaded  forgive- 
ness for  his  sinful  and  indifferent  life.  He  was 
hopefully  converted  and,  with  his  wife  and  two 
children,  was  baptized  and  united  with  the  church. 
He  became  active  in  all  the  work  of  the  church  and 
helped  in  erecting  a  new  meeting-house  in  the  little 
town  where  he  lived.  During  these  eight  years  he 
has  been  faithful  to  his  Lord  and  has  charge  of  the 
same  gravel  pit.  He  has  been  changed  from  a 
sinful  man  to  one  who  is  exceedingly  scrupulous 
about  everything.  The  division  superintendent  on 
the  line  told  a  friend  of  mine  that  soon  after  his 
conversion  this  man  was  in  the  superintendent's 
office.  The  superintendent  offered  him  a  cigar  and 
he  said,  "  1  have  quit  smoking  since  the  chapel  car 
came  to  my  town."  He  then  proceeded  to  tell  him 
how  he  attended  one  of  our  afternoon  meetings  for 
boys  and  girls  when  I  had  given  a  talk  on  "Danger 
Signals"  and  had  referred  to  the  danger  of  using 
tobacco  and  drinking  beer.  He  said  further :  "On 
my  way  home  from  that  meeting  I  threw  my  old 
pipe  away  and  determined  not  to  drink  any  more 
beer.    I  did  not  want  to  set  a  wrong  example  before 

my  own  boys.     And  more  than  that,  Mr.  M ,  I 

want  you  to  know  that  you  have  a  better  man 


RAILROAD  DEPARTMENT  109 

working  for  you  since  the  chapel  car  came.  I  don't 
go  near  the  saloon  now.  I  have  more  time  and  a 
clearer  head  and  stronger  muscles  to  put  into  my 
work  at  the  '  pit.'  " 

3.  A  Conductor.  Our  car  was  sidetracked  in 
another  Wisconsin  town  about  two  years  ago.  At 
the  afternoon  meetings  a  noble  boy  of  twelve  years 
of  age  intelligently  yielded  his  young  life  to  Christ. 
He  was  the  son  of  this  conductor.  The  boy  was 
baptized  and  became  a  member  of  the  church  with 
his  mother.  After  we  had  been  there  a  short  time, 
the  boy  came  to  me  and  asked  me  to  talk  with  his 
father.  I  told  him  I  would  and  therefore  went  to 
the  depot  the  next  day  to  meet  him.  He  seemed 
very  friendly  as  we  talked  about  railroad  matters 
and  his  boy  and  he  accepted  my  invitation  to  come 
to  the  meetings.  He  came  and  kept  coming  and 
became  deeply  interested.  He  was  soon  under  con- 
viction. His  wife  talked  with  him,  pleading  with 
him  to  yield  his  heart  to  Christ.  He  resisted  the 
Spirit's  call  and  sometimes  stayed  away  from  meet- 
ings. Finally,  two  nights  before  I  left,  he  responded 
and  told  his  wife  he  was  ready  and  yielded  in  his 
own  room,  quietly  but  sincerely.  He  told  his  boy 
that  he  would  go  forward  the  next  night,  which  was 
our  last  in  town.  Just  before  the  service,  the  boy 
came  to  me  with  his  eyes  shining  and  his  face  radi- 
ant with  joy  and  said,  "  Mr.  Rust,  I  have  a  surprise 
for  you  to-night."  I  told  him  I  could  guess  what  it 
was.  I  soon  saw  his  father  and  mother  coming  in, 
and  as  they  came  down  the  aisle  and  occupied  a 


no  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

seat  near  the  front,  I  recognized  a  new  light  in  the 
man's  face,  therefore  it  did  not  surprise  me  to  see 
him  walk  down  to  the  front  and  take  my  hand  as  I 
asked  for  some  men  in  a  manly  way  to  confess 
Christ.  The  people  knew  him  very  well  and  at 
his  request  he  was  received  for  church-membership 
that  night.  He  wanted  me  to  baptize  him  before  I 
left.  Our  train  went  at  9.30  A,  M.  and  his  left  at 
7  A.  M.,  therefore  we  decided  on  5.30  A.  M.  for  the 
baptism.  The  next  morning  a  party  of  eight  of  us 
wended  our  way  to  the  river-side.  The  Scriptures 
were  read,  prayer  was  offered  by  the  district  mis- 
sionary who  was  with  us,  songs  were  sung,  and  as 
the  rising  sun  kissed  the  waters  with  its  luminous 
rays  and  seemed  to  smile  God's  approval,  he  was 
buried  with  Christ  in  baptism.  He  immediately 
left  for  his  home,  ate  his  breakfast,  went  to  the 
station,  and  as  he  rode  out  on  his  train,  waved  his 
hand  and  smiled,  showing  very  clearly  that  the 
blessing  of  the  Lord  was  filling  his  soul. 

He  and  his  loved  ones  are  working  faithfully  in 
the  church  to-day  and  he  is  seeking  to  let  his  light 
shine  along  the  line. 

4.  A  Brakeman.  In  order  to  reach  a  certain  town 
in  North  Dakota,  our  car  was  "cut  off"  from  a 
main  line  train  and  attached  to  a  mixed  train  that 
cared  for  the  business  of  the  branch  line.  It  was 
in  the  days  of  "link  and  pin"  couplings.  The 
brakeman  was  terribly  profane  and  freely  expressed 
his  disgust  at  being  obliged  to  couple  our  car  on,  as 
he  was  having  difficulty  in  making  the  connection. 


RAILROAD  DEPARTMENT  III 

He  didn't  want  any  church  car  on  his  train.  How- 
ever, the  coupling  was  made  and  we  arrived  at  the 
little  town  which  was  at  the  end  of  the  line.  The 
brakeman  lived  here  and  attended  the  meetings. 
One  Sunday  afternoon,  at  a  men's  meeting,  he 
kneeled  and  asked  God  to  forgive  him  for  his  sins. 
At  the  evening  meeting,  in  a  church  crowded  with 
hundreds  of  people  and  while  seated  by  the  side  of 
his  wife,  he  decided  to  respond  to  my  invitation  for 
all  men  who  would  yield  themselves  to  God  to  come 
forward,  so  after  turning  to  his  wife  and  saying,  "  I 
am  going,"  he  arose  and  came  manfully  down  the 
aisle  with  several  other  men.  He  told  me  after  the 
meeting  that  on  the  way  down  to  the  front  the 
whole  burden  of  his  sin  seemed  to  roll  away.  His 
wife  confessed  Christ  soon  afterward  and  both 
became  members  of  the  church.  They  had  two 
children  and  were  a  happy  family  as  they  accepted 
the  Bibles  I  presented  to  them. 

When  we  came  down  the  line  on  his  train,  this 
brakeman  seemed  to  have  no  trouble  with  the 
couplings  and  was  a  different  man  in  every  way. 
He  manifested  interest  in  our  work,  came  in  and 
talked  with  us,  telling  us  of  his  old  home  and  his 
dear  mother  and  said,  "  I  have  written  to  her  of  my 
becoming  a  Christian  and  expect  a  letter  at  the 
division  point  to-day."  Sure  enough,  when  he 
arrived  and  had  finished  his  work,  he  went  to  the 
post  office  and  received  his  letter.  He  was  so 
excited  that  he  could  hardly  read  it,  so  he  brought 
it  to  me  and  stood  by  my  side,  looking  over  my 


112  A  CHURCH   ON   WHEELS 

shoulder  as  I  read  it.  1  cannot  recall  the  exact 
phraseology  of  it,  but  it  read  something  like  this : 
"My  dear  boy  Charlie  :  Your  letter  with  its  good 
news  has  come.  Oh,  how  I  praise  God  that  my 
prayers  are  answered  !  When  I  received  it,  Charlie, 
I  went  upstairs  and,  kneeling  by  the  old  bed  where 
you  slept  so  many  nights,  I  held  it  up  and  thanked 
God  that  my  dear  boy  was  saved  from  sin  and  had 
given  his  life  to  God."  How  the  tears  of  joy  rolled 
down  the  young  man's  cheeks  as  he  said  to  me: 
"  Mr.  Rust,  that  letter  is  worth  more  than  all  the 
pleasures  of  sin." 

I  need  not  record  any  more  incidents  of  the  work 
in  this  department.  These  will  certainly  give  some 
idea  of  how  the  chapel  car  helps  the  men  on  the 
railroad. 


IX 

RESURRECTION  DEPARTMENT 

THE  title  of  this  ciiapter  may  cause  wonder  as 
to  what  its  contents  can  be,  therefore  I  will 
state  at  once  that  in  this  department  we  will 
consider  the  work  with  the  weak  and  dying 
churches.  Because  so  many  of  the  churches  that 
we  have  helped  have  been  practically  "  dead,"  we 
thought  that  we  could  pertinently  name  these 
pages  "resurrection  department." 

ACTUAL  CONDITIONS 

He  who  is  familiar  with  Baptist  church  life  in  the 
West,  is  conscious  that  there  would  be  great  dan- 
ger of  organizing  churches  under  the  stress  of  the 
evident  need  for  some  moral  help  to  the  commu- 
nity, and  in  the  enthusiasm  of  "boom"  times, 
which  would  be  difficult  to  care  for.  It  is  one  thing 
to  organize  a  church  of  a  few  people,  and  it  is  quite 
another  matter  to  keep  that  church  alive.  The 
missionary  of  any  of  our  societies  goes  into  a  town, 
holds  meetings,  men  and  women  are  converted 
and  even  if  they  cannot  have  a  settled  pastor  at 
once,  or  all  the  time,  they  ought  to  be  together  in 
a  church.  So  a  church  and  Sunday-school  are 
organized   and   work   begun   and   under  the  wise 

H  113 


114  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

leadership  of  the  state  superintendent  of  missions 
and  convention  missionaries,  many  of  these  very 
small  interests  have  developed  into  self-supporting 
churches.  On  the  other  hand,  and  with  no  blame 
to  be  laid  upon  any  one,  many  have  struggled  on 
for  a  few  years  and  died.  This  does  not  leave  us 
to  infer,  however,  that  these  interests  should  not 
have  been  organized.  Who  dares  to  state  that  a 
small  church  which  lived  for  ten  years,  and  helped 
many  a  soul  into  the  light  and  sent  forth  some  of 
the  noblest  workers  this  world  has  known,  should 
not  have  been  organized,  because  after  a  decade  of 
years  of  service  it  succumbs  to  the  inevitable  be- 
cause of  removals  and  changed  conditions,  and  dies.? 
Some  of  these  little  churches  have  left  the  record 
of  a  glorious  past.  They  actually  finished  the 
work  that  God  gave  them  to  do.  Then  we  must 
not  forget  the  individual  souls  and  lives  saved  while 
they  were  alive.  These  young  men  and  women 
have  gone  out  to  help  in  some  other  field.  Yea, 
they  have  gone  to  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  God's 
kingdom  is  advancing  because  of  them.  The  indi- 
vidual life  that  is  saved  for  Christ  never  dies  even 
if  the  church  in  which  he  was  born  does. 

Nevertheless  we  do  not  like  to  see  churches 
dying,  and  the  boards  of  our  State  Conventions  and 
Home  Mission  Society,  and  those  of  all  other  de- 
nominations (for  they  have  the  same  problems), 
are  doing  all  in  their  power,  with  limited  resources, 
to  keep  alive  these  struggling  interests.  It  does 
make  one's  heart  ache  to  see  the  great  need,  to 


RESURRECTION  DEPARTMENT  II  5 

have  calls  come  in  for  twice  the  help  that  can  be 
given.  The  American  Baptist  Publication  Society, 
through  its  Sunday-school  missionaries,  colporters, 
and  chapel-car  missionaries,  has  ever  sought  to  help 
in  the  important  work  of  reviving  dying  churches. 
All  over  the  great  West  we  have  tried  our  best  to 
aid  the  struggling  ones,  and  many  accounts  could 
be  given  of  the  blessed  results  which  have  come 
from  the  visits  of  the  workers  of  this  Society. 

The  chapel  cars  were  built  especially  to  reach  the 
churchless  communities,  /.  e.,  those  desolate  places 
where  no  building  could  be  found  in  which  to  hold 
a  meeting.  But  when  so  many  calls  came  from  the 
dying  churches,  and  the  State  Convention  wanted 
us  to  help  them  if  possible,  Uncle  Boston  went  first, 
as  I  have  done  since,  to  the  officials  of  the  railway 
line  and  after  telling  them  of  the  calls  received  from 
these  weak  churches,  and  the  importance  of  keeping 
alive  that  which  was  born,  asked  them  if  they  were 
willing  to  give  us  trackage  in  these  towns.  They 
saw  the  reasonableness  of  our  doing  this  work,  and 
gladly  granted  us  the  privilege  of  helping  in  this 
direction.  During  these  years  we  have  visited 
many  a  church  that  was  almost  ready  to  "dis- 
band," and  God  has  wonderfully  blessed  as  we 
have  sought  to  encourage  and  strengthen  them. 

Perhaps  it  might  be  well  for  me  to  briefly  de- 
scribe the  towns  where  these  churches  are,  as  well 
as  inform  the  reader  more  fully  regarding  some 
problems  which  have  to  be  met.  Generally  these 
weak  and  dying  churches  are  in  towns  of  a  popula- 


Il6  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

tion  ranging  from  three  hundred  to  two  thousand 
five  hundred  people.  Some  of  these  towns  are  fully 
equipped  with  all  modern  conveniences.  Towns  of 
seven  hundred  people  will  have  electric  lights,  an 
elegant  school  building,  and  other  up-to-date  com- 
forts in  the  homes.  But  many  towns  are  far  from 
modern.  Some  are  in  the  woods.  Some  are  little 
villages  on  the  prairie  where  the  wliole  appearance 
is  that  of  a  pioneer  settlement.  However,  we  sel- 
dom get  into  any  town  but  that  we  find  some  cul- 
tured and  intellectual  people.  These  people  have 
come  from  cities  and  large  churches,  and  are  in 
those  towns  to  "grow  up  with  the  country,"  look- 
ing forward  to  the  time  when  their  prosperity  will 
enable  them  to  live  as  they  once  did. 

I  remember  visiting  a  little  Swedish  community 
of  some  seventy-five  people  clustered  near  a  depot. 
I  found  that  the  "  banker  "  and  his  wife  were  very 
cultured  people.  She  was  a  graduate  of  Oberlin 
and  he  was  a  musician  as  well  as  she.  They  were 
accustomed  to  spend  their  evenings  in  study,  con- 
tinuing their  work  in  music,  languages,  and  current 
reading  together.  The  people  of  this  class  in  all 
these  towns  want  good  preaching,  and  sometimes 
are  disposed  to  take  nothing  if  the  pastor  is  not  up 
to  their  standard,  even  if  he  is  the  best  that  they 
and  the  Convention  could  pay  for.  This  makes  an 
added  difficulty  for  those  who  try  to  supply  these 
needy  fields.  However,  many  of  these  cultured 
people  are  Christian  enough  to  be  thankful  for 
what  they  can  have,  and  gladly  do  all  they  can  to 


RESURRECTION  DEPARTMENT  II7 

help  in  the  field  where  they  live.  Once  in  a  while 
we  will  find  a  town  that  is  over-churched  but  not 
often.  If  these  churches  could  be  revived,  souls 
converted  and  manned  by  good,  substantial  men, 
there  would  be  no  cry  of  "too  many  churches." 

HOW  WE  ARE  TREATED 

It  is  a  pleasure  for  me  to  write  that  during  these 
visits  to  small  churches,  we  have  met  some  very 
choice  Christian  people  who  were  exceedingly  kind 
to  us  in  many  ways,  and  whose  friendship  we  now 
prize  very  highly.  We  had  left  our  home  in  the 
East  and  they  gave  us  the  use  of  theirs.  They  often 
sent  food  to  the  car,  for  we  could  not  cook  anything. 
They  also  invited  us  to  dinner  many  times.  We  are 
glad  to  state  that,  generally  speaking,  we  have  been 
treated  royally  by  one  and  all,  in  every  town  we 
have  visited.  We  have  endeavored  to  be  kind  to 
all  and  we  have,  except  in  a  very  few  instances, 
received  nothing  but  kindness  in  return. 

In  one  town  where  we  were  $ide-tracked  the  mis- 
sionary was  obliged  to  go  to  bed  for  three  days  be- 
cause of  an  attack  of  tonsilitis.  The  car  was  on  a 
special  track  and  the  rear  steps  were  high  from  the 
ground.  Mrs.  Rust  could  not  easily  get  on  and  off 
the  car.  A  good  Baptist  brother  who  lived  near 
the  car  came  over  and  saw  that  Mrs.  Rust  needed 
some  steps  there  and  at  once.  Therefore  he  went 
to  his  house  (a  new  one),  took  away  the  front 
steps,  brought  them  over  and  fitted  them  to  those 
of  the  chapel  car.     Could  any  one  do  any  more  for 


Il8  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

us  ?  I  might  add  that  when  the  car  left  that  town, 
the  missionary  was  not  with  it,  and  tlie  steps  were 
carried  off  by  mistake.  They  were  shipped  back 
however,  and  are  in  their  right  place  at  this  time. 

Perhaps  there  may  be  an  interest  in  knowing 
what  was  done  when  we  were  not  treated  kindly. 
I  will  tell  of  two  instances.  They  occurred  nearly 
ten  years  ago  and  nothing  of  the  kind  has  been 
repeated  since  : 

One  morning  in  April  of  1895  1  stepped  out  from 
the  car  door  at  an  early  hour  to  get  some  coal.  As 
I  went  alongside  the  car  I  was  amazed  to  find 
printed  on  the  side  with  red  paint,  great  letters 
nearly  two  feet  high  and  covering  a  space  of  some 
thirty  feet,  which  formed  the  words  "CATTLE  CAR." 
I  touched  it  and  found  it  was  fresh.  Some  mis- 
chievous person  had  put  it  there  during  the  night. 
Happy  to  find  it  was  not  dry  1  rushed  in,  tore  up  a 
pair  of  old  trousers,  and  carefully  rubbed  off  every 
particle  of  it  before  breakfast.  I  did  not  mention  it 
in  the  meetings  although  the  editor  of  the  paper 
scored  the  miscreant  terribly.  God  helped  me  to 
keep  quiet  and  sweet,  and  we  had  the  biggest 
meeting  that  the  town  had  ever  known. 

At  a  later  time  in  another  town  in  the  same 
State  something  I  had  said  about  secret  societies 
had  been  misquoted  to  a  prominent  merchant  and 
"Mason"  in  the  town,  and  I  was  afterward  told 
that  he  inspired  some  "roughs"  to  egg  the  car  one 
cold  night  in  winter.  They  certainly  egged  it  and 
it  was  a  sight  to  behold  when  1  arose   the  next 


RESURRECTION   DEPARTMENT  1 19 

morning.  The  cultured  people  of  the  town  were 
ashamed  to  think  that  they  had  people  in  the  town 
who  would  do  such  a  thing.  One  business  man 
came  to  me  and  told  me  how  badly  he  felt  about  it. 
If  you  had  been  there  you  could  have  seen  the 
missionary  taking  off  the  storm  sash  to  clean  them, 
as  the  eggs  had  run  down  on  the  inside  and  frozen. 
With  warm  water  he  washed  the  side  of  the  car, 
and  that  evening  preached  as  sweet  a  gospel  ser- 
mon as  he  knew  how,  not  once  referring  to  the 
"  egging  episode."  Learning  that  a  certain  business 
man  was  back  of  it  all,  he  went  to  the  store  of  this 
man,  bought  some  articles  from  him  that  were  not 
particularly  needed,  and  treated  him  kindly  every 
day.  The  man  told  some  one  that  he  never  expected 
to  see  me  in  his  store  again.  The  effect  of  trying  to 
carry  out  the  spirit  of  Matt.  5  :  44  and  Rom.  12  :  19, 
20  was  very  evident  in  the  meetings,  and  we  left  that 
town  with  a  host  of  friends.  Such  instances  have 
been  exceedingly  rare  and  when  we  think  of  the  de- 
lightful times  we  have  enjoyed  in  these  small  towns, 
and  can  see  the  picture  of  scores  of  people  at  the 
station  waving  their  hands  and  weeping  as  they  said 
"Good-bye,"  we  have  only  pleasant  memories  of 
the  visits  we  have  made  to  these  towns. 

HOW  THE  CAR  HELPS 

The  power  of  the  chapel  car  to  help  these  strug- 
gling churches  has  been  demonstrated  most  conclu- 
sively during  our  life  on  wheels.  Picture,  if  you 
can,  a  small  body  of  believers  in  a  little,  lonely 


120  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

town  where  wickedness  abounds  and  indifference  is 
evident.  See  them  as  they  struggle  on  sometimes 
with  no  pastor  and  no  preaching  of  any  kind. 
They  feel  so  helpless  and  discouraged.  Enthusiasm 
dies  because  they  are  so  few,  yet  they  toil  on  faith- 
fully, hoping  that  some  one  will  come  to  help  them. 
Then  note  the  pastor  in  one  of  these  towns — living 
on  a  very  meagre  salary,  not  being  able  to  afford 
any  new  books,  missing  the  fellowship  that  his 
brethren  in  the  city  enjoy  so  much,  trying  to  preach 
the  gospel  boldly  and  lovingly  and  often  driving 
into  the  country  for  miles  around  to  touch  the 
schoolhouse  districts.  He  and  his  church  cannot 
afford  to  engage  an  evangelist  and  they  need  any 
one  but  a  poor  worker  to  help  them. 

Some  of  these  pastors  and  their  wives  have  much 
hard  pioneer  work  to  do,  and  they  certainly  deserve 
all  the  help  that  we  can  give  them.  I  have  known 
of  pastors  driving  across  the  country  forty  to  fifty 
miles  to  make  three  appointments  on  a  Sunday,  and 
sometimes  the  mercury  registers  away  down  below 
zero.  The  wives  are  no  less  heroic.  Sometimes 
the  most  cultured  of  young  women  have  taken  their 
places  beside  these  noble  and  sacrificing  pastors 
and,  while  suffering  very  much  because  of  their  iso- 
lation, have  toiled  on  faithfully  with  their  husbands 
for  Christ's  sake  and  for  the  sake  of  the  needy  ones 
about  them.  It  has  been  a  delight  to  run  the  car 
into  a  little  town  where  these  servants  of  God  are 
laboring,  and  seek  to  encourage  and  help  them. 

Can  you  not  imagine  how  the  pastor  and  mem- 


RESURRECTION  DEPARTMENT  121 

bers  feel,  when  in  answer  to  their  request  the 
beautiful  Baptist  church  on  wheels  rolls  into  town? 
How  proud  they  are  of  it,  as  they  invite  neighbors 
and  friends  to  go  down  to  see  it  and  attend  the 
meetings.  Every  Baptist  grows  wonderfully  at 
fust  sight  of  it  and  he  is  glad  that  he  is  a  Christian 
and  a  Baptist.  And  oftentimes  those  who  have 
forgotten  their  Christ  and  lost  their  first  love,  will 
suddenly  declare  with  considerable  fervor,  "  I  am  a 
Baptist,"  and  get  a  good  start  toward  a  genuine 
Christian  life  at  the  first  meeting.  The  car  itself 
actually  revives  the  dying  embers  of  soul.  Then 
it  always  creates  a  stir  in  town.  It  is  the  "  big 
thing."  Every  one  is  talking  about  it.  It  shows 
that  Christianity  is  not  dying,  but  on  the  move. 
There  are  level-headed  men  putting  their  money 
into  it.  It  exerts  a  powerful  influence  upon  the 
people  who  have  classed  Christianity  with  the  use- 
less and  discredited  antiquities  of  the  ages.  The 
novelty  of  it  also  attracts.  Something  new  appeals 
to  all  Athenians  everywhere.  The  fact  that  they 
want  something  new  and  totally  different  from  any- 
thing else,  opens  the  door  for  the  entrance  of  a 
message  from  the  "old  gospel." 

Where  pastors  have  preached  to  a  very  few, 
crowds  are  at  the  car.  It  will  seat  more  than  one 
hundred  and  oftentimes  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
attend  every  meeting.  This  is  a  large  congregation 
for  these  small  churches.  Oftentimes  we  are 
crowded  out  of  the  car  in  a  town  of  four  hundred 
people.     Meetings  are  then  taken  to  a  hall,  and  we 


122  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

use  the  car  for  all  afternoon  services.  I  was  helping 
a  missionary  pastor  awhile  ago.  He  had  eighteen 
out  the  Sunday  evening  previous.  At  our  first 
meeting  we  had  about  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
in  the  car  and  many  outside.  The  town  needed 
something  special  to  arouse  the  people.  In  this 
work,  all  the  other  evangelical  churches  are  bene- 
fited. Hundreds  of  people  who  have  been  con- 
verted in  the  chapel  cars  have  united  with  these 
churches.  We  are  very  glad  that  this  is  manifestly 
true  in  nearly  every  town  we  visit. 

We  were  holding  meetings  in  a  mining  town  in 
Minnesota  eight  years  ago.  A  man  who  was  the 
engineer  of  the  stationary  engine  at  one  of  the 
mines  came  to  the  meeting  regularly.  He  was  away 
from  his  home  and  living  in  a  shack.  He  was  an 
exceptionally  moral  and  clean  man  for  that  region, 
and  one  who  rather  prided  himself  upon  the  fact. 
One  night  after  meeting  he  asked  me  :  "  Mr.  Rust, 
do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  an  upright,  honest  man, 
who  pays  his  bills  and  does  the  best  he  can,  is  going 
to  the  same  place  a  murderer  goes  to  just  because 
he  will  not  accept  Jesus  Christ  as  his  Saviour  ?  "  I 
might  have  argued  with  him  some  along  the  line  that 
I  had  not  found  that  man  who  was  perfectly  upright, 
nor  the  man  that  could  take  oath  that  he  never  could 
have  been  better,  but  I  simply  asked  him, 

"Do  you  think  that  man  to  whom  you  refer  is 
saved?"     He  said  "No." 

"  Well,  then,  my  friend,  he  must  be  lost.  Not 
lost  because  he  is  as  bad  as  the  murderer,  but  lost 


RESURRECTION  DEPARTMENT  123 

because  he  as  a  sinner  will  not  accept  Christ  who 
is  the  only  Saviour." 

He  did  not  like  it  for  he  was  the  man.  He  went 
home  and  came  back  another  night,  and  at  the 
invitation  for  all  who  wanted  to  be  Christians  to 
arise,  he  arose  with  tears  streaming  down  his  cheeks 
and  came  into  the  back  room  with  me. 

He  was  sobbing  and  I  said,  "My  brother,  don't 
feel  so,  please  kneel  with  me  and  tell  God  how  you 
feel."  He  knelt,  put  his  elbows  in  the  seat  of  a 
little  office  chair,  took  hold  of  the  back  with  his 
hands,  and  swayed  back  and  forth  crying  as  if  his 
heart  would  break.  With  an  outburst  of  feeling  he 
cried,  "  O  God,  forgive  me  for  my  sins." 

You  notice  he  did  not  ask  God  to  forgive  him  for 
his  uprightness.  He  had  none  to  bring.  He  thought 
of  himself  as  a  sinner  and  one  who  needed  a  Saviour. 
He  was  soon  out  into  the  blessed  light  of  salvation, 
rejoicing  in  a  Saviour  found.  He  wrote  his  wife  and 
received  a  reply  of  joy  that  did  him  more  good  than  he 
could  express,  for  she  had  prayed  for  him  for  a  long 
time.  We  went  to  the  town  where  his  wife  lived,  and 
he  came  up  and  together  they  came  to  the  car,  and 
there,  before  all  who  knew  him,  he  told  of  his  new- 
found salvation.  That  man,  to-day,  is  a  true  follower 
of  Christ,  active  in  every  good  work  for  the  Master. 
He  is  an  honored  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church. 

VISIBLE   RESULTS 

Probably  the  best  way  to  show  what  the  work 
of  the  chapel  car  is  in  helping  these  weak  Baptist 


124  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

churches,  would  be  to  write  of  some  actual  visits 
that  we  have  made  to  them,  telHng  of  the  condition 
when  we  arrived,  and  of  the  visible  results  as  we 
left.  I  will  select  one  from  each  of  the  five  States 
in  our  territory,  which  is  within  a  radius  of  about 
four  hundred  miles  from  Minneapolis. 

The  first  one  will  be  from  Iowa.  In  consultation 
with  the  superintendent  of  missions  we  had  con- 
cluded to  hold  some  meetings  in  the  northwestern 
part  of  the  State,  in  a  little  churchless  town  near 
Spirit  Lake.  The  meetings  were  blessed,  souls  were 
converted,  ten  were  baptized,  and  about  seventeen 
in  all  were  ready  to  organize  a  Baptist  church, 
which  was  done  after  the  district  missionary  and 
superintendent  of  missions  came  and  looked  over 
the  field.  It  was  thought  best  not  to  erect  a  meet- 
ing-house then,  so  a  hall  was  secured  and  chairs 
and  organ  purchased.  While  here  we  looked  into 
the  condition  at  Spirit  Lake.  Their  pastor  had  just 
gone,  but  he  had  persuaded  them  to  complete  plans 
for  remodeling  their  old  meeting-house,  and  they 
had  finished  the  basement  of  the  addition  before 
he  left,  I  think.  We  called  on  some  of  the  members 
but  they  hardly  knew  whether  they  could  proceed 
to  build  or  not.  The  good  deacon  had  gone  away. 
I  wrote  to  him.  He  returned  soon,  and  came  over 
to  our  meetings  in  the  near-by  town.  He  told  me 
that  they  had  not  given  up  the  idea  of  finishing  the 
building  at  Spirit  Lake,  and  wanted  to  know  if  I 
could  get  the  chapel  car  there  and  hold  meetings  in 
it  until  the  church  could  be  completed.     I  told  him 


RESURRECTION   DEPARTMENT  12$ 

I  thought  we  could,  and  as  the  superintendent  of 
missions  had  asked  me  to  get  there  and  help  them 
if  possible,  I  went  to  Cedar  Rapids,  saw  the  rail- 
road officials,  and  they  agreed  to  build  a  "spur 
track"  so  the  chapel  car  could  stay  for  a  number 
of  weeks.  The  faithful  members  were  busy  on 
the  building,  and  we  had  the  privilege  of  trying  to 
put  a  few  shingles  on  the  roof.  Soon  the  chapel 
car  arrived  and  meetings  began.  The  car  was 
filled  to  overflowing.  Many  were  converted,  and 
church-members  were  revived.  The  little  band  of 
believers  was  encouraged.  The  building  was  near- 
ing  completion  and  December  8  Rev.  S.  E.  Wilcox 
came  and  took  charge  of  the  dedication  services, 
raising  enough  money  to  clear  the  debt.  During 
the  next  week  I  baptized  twenty-three  and  some 
six  others  were  received  by  experience  and  letter, 
swelling  the  membership  to  about  forty-five  as  I 
remember  it.  It  was  thought  best  to  have  the 
members  in  the  small  town  near  by  unite  at  this 
central  church,  and  some  seventeen  more  were 
received.  The  State  Convention  recognized  the 
importance  of  the  field,  and  agreed  to  help,  securing 
an  able  pastor,  who  was  soon  on  the  field.  He  is 
there  to-day  and  has  been  greatly  used  to  build  up 
this  church.  Thus  the  chapel  car  was  just  the 
blessing  needed  at  this  critical  time  in  their  history. 
What  a  privilege  and  power  there  is  in  having  a 
movable  meeting-house  to  run  in  and  use,  while  a 
little  church  is  enlarging  the  meeting-house.  How 
its  coming,  and  the  meetings  helped  when  they  were 


126  A  CHURCH   ON   WHEELS 

SO  discouraged  !  The  meetings  interested  so  many 
that  it  was  much  easier  to  secure  money  for  a 
pastor. 

I  will  now  ask  the  reader  to  take  a  trip  with  me 
into  South  Dakota.  We  will  stop  at  a  little  town 
of  some  seven  hundred  people.  Skepticism,  open 
sin,  and  indifference  abound.  There  were  two 
evangelical  churches,  but  no  resident  pastor  for 
either.  They  alternated  in  meetings,  a  preacher  of 
each  denomination  coming  every  other  Sunday. 
We  were  told  that  more  interest  was  manifested 
in  our  meetings  than  was  ever  known  before.  God 
alone  knows  the  results,  but  many  were  converted 
and  helped.  Some  united  with  the  Methodist 
church  and  thirteen  were  baptized  into  the  Baptist 
church  before  we  left.  Prayer  meetings  were  ar- 
ranged for  with  printed  topics  and  leaders,  and 
a  young  people's  society  was  organized.  Letters 
from  there  reveal  the  fact  that  lives  were  changed 
for  eternity,  and  a  happy,  hopeful  condition  prevails. 

We  will  take  a  trip  into  Wisconsin  now  and 
travel  away  up  in  the  north  central  part  of  the  State. 
The  superintendent  of  missions  had  repeatedly  re- 
quested us  to  go  there.  We  arrived  at  our  desti- 
nation safely,  and  found  that  we  were  sidetracked 
in  a  town  of  some  three  hundred  people.  There 
were  fourteen  saloons  to  mar  the  beauty  of  the 
charming  little  town  by  the  lake,  and  only  one 
Protestant  church  organization  with  no  pastor  to 
offset  this.  The  Baptists  were  keeping  up  their 
Sunday-school  and  were  being  supplied  occasionally 


RESURRECTION  DEPARTMENT  I27 

by  a  Methodist  preacher.  When  I  talked  with  the 
Baptist  people  they  told  me  that  there  was  little 
hope  of  ever  having  a  pastor  again.  But  the  bless- 
ing of  the  Lord  came  with  the  car  and  a  number 
were  converted.  I  baptized  about  a  dozen  and  some 
were  received  by  experience.  New  song  books 
were  purchased  and  a  pastor  was  to  be  on  the  field. 
We  left  them  with  their  small  membership  more 
than  doubled,  and  all  determined  to  work  hard 
for  Christ.  The  State  Convention  is  looking  out 
for  them. 

We  must  make  one  stop  at  a  town  in  Minnesota. 
At  the  Summer  Assembly  one  summer  about  five 
years  ago  the  superintendent  of  missions  came  to 
me  and  asked  me  to  try  and  get  the  chapel  car  into 
a  lumber  town  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State. 
It  was  a  new  town  of  some  thousand  people,  but 
destined  to  be  a  center  for  a  very  large  territory  of 
lumbering  interests.  He  said  that  he  expected  to 
have  a  missionary  of  the  Convention  there  also, 
and  we  could  work  together.  Rev.  William  Francis, 
who  has  been  "assistant"  at  the  First  Baptist 
Church,  Minneapolis,  for  a  number  of  years,  and 
who  recently  left  us  for  his  heavenly  home,  was 
the  one  he  sent.  Mr.  Francis  went  ahead  of  me, 
began  his  work  there,  and  advertised  the  coming 
of  the  car.  Upon  our  arrival  we  found  ourselves 
in  a  rapidly  growing  and  very  wicked  town. 

It  is  hard  for  me  to  pen  these  lines  without  tears 
flowing,  for  I  am  constantly  thinking  of  my  dear 
Brother   Francis.      How  we  toiled  together  there. 


128  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

What  a  noble  man  he  was.  I  loved  him  and  ad- 
mired him.  Thank  God  for  the  hope  of  meeting 
him  in  heaven.  I  have  decided  to  let  his  pen  write 
of  the  work  in  this  town.  The  following  is  what 
he  wrote  after  our  visit : 

During  the  week  previous  to  the  arrival  of  the  chapel  car 
I  investigated,  advertised,  and  prayed,  believing  as  I  did 
that  God  was  in  some  way  going  to  bless  this  little  three- 
year  old  town.  At  the  first  Sunday  morning  service,  August 
26,  the  attendance  was  but  four,  in  the  evening  eighteen,  and 
at  Sunday-school  two.  Indeed,  things  looked  most  unprom- 
ising. Saturday  evening,  September  2,  the  first  meeting  was 
held  in  the  chapel  car  "  Glad  Tidings,"  and  the  attendance 
reached  almost  the  one  hundred  mark,  and  comparatively 
little  time  was  spent  advertising  the  stay  of  the  car.  Meet- 
ings were  held  each  day,  both  afternoon  and  evening.  1 
think  1  can  safely  say  that  some  one  accepted  Christ  at  every 
meeting  held.  I  know  of  more  than  thirty  professing  Chris- 
tians who  had  their  lives  touched  and  brought  into  a  more 
consistent  Christian  life.  Fully  forty  persons  accepted  Christ, 
sixteen  of  whom  have  been  baptized  ;  besides  these  there 
were  many  who  were  deeply  stirred,  and  who  we  hope  will 
decide  for  Christ. 

The  entire  religious  life  of  the  town  was  molded  by  the 
meetings.  One  of  the  brightest  effects  of  the  whole  series  of 
meetings  was  that  whole  families  were  saved.  Among  the 
converts  were  several  Roman  Catholics.  At  one  baptism  four 
members  of  one  family  were  baptized,  the  father,  mother,  and 
two  daughters.  On  Sunday,  October  i,  a  family  consisting 
of  a  lady  sixty-five  years  of  age,  her  son  and  his  wife  and 
daughter,  went  down  into  Lake  Bemidji  with  Mr.  Rust  and 
were  baptized.  Never  have  we  seen  anything  quite  so  im- 
pressive and  touching  as  this  family  baptism. 

Those  who  live  in  the  more  thickly  settled  portion  of  the 
country  do  not  realize  what  it  means  to  live  a  Christian  life 
in  a  frontier  town  like  Bemidji.    The  young  Christians  are 


RESURRECTION  DEPARTMENT       1 29 

daily  thrown  into  temptations  that  would  make  any  but  the 
strongest  shrink.  Pages  might  be  filled  with  incidents  of  the 
work  of  the  four  weeks.  Many  of  the  converts  will  unite 
with  the  Methodist  and  Presbyterian  churches,  both  of  which 
feel  the  stimulating  power  of  the  grand  work  done  by  the 
chapel-car  missionaries.  The  work  of  Brother  Rust  and  the  car 
gave  me  time  to  direct  my  attention  to  the  church  building, 
for  which  some  subscriptions  had  been  taken  a  year  previous, 
but  which  had  largely  lapsed  by  removal  or  other  changed 
conditions.  Stone  was  secured  with  the  money  then  on  hand 
and  the  foundation  for  a  building  thirty  by  forty  feet  laid. 
Brethren  Rust  and  Tipton  went  with  me  around  the  lake  and 
helped  to  trim  the  logs  which  had  been  donated  by  Mr.  T.  B. 
Walker,  of  Minneapolis.  These  were  taken  to  a  sawmill 
across  the  lake  and  sawed.  They  furnished  enough  lumber 
to  enclose  the  building.  But  for  the  aid  of  the  chapel-car 
missionaries  all  this  could  only  have  been  accomplished 
with  a  much  greater  effort  and  expense,  both  of  time  and 
money.  Humanly  speaking,  the  Baptist  cause  was  lost  in 
Bemidji  but  for  the  coming  of  this  ready-to-hand,  up-to-date 
church  on  wheels — not  only  for  preaching  and  singing  the 
gospel,  but  for  helping  every  want  of  the  community.  Sixteen 
have  been  baptized,  nine  more  ready  for  baptism,  and  will  be 
as  soon  as  the  church  is  completed  ;  ten  more  to  come  into 
church  by  experience,  so  that  the  membership  will  be  about 
forty.  There  were  but  five  members  of  the  church.  The 
Sunday-school  had  been  practically  given  up.  It  is  now  re- 
organized with  about  fifty  members.  The  church  building  is 
in  process  of  erection,  and  about  November  i  will  be  ready 
for  occupancy. 

I  think  one  can  easily  see  that  the  chape!  car 
was  a  genuine  help  to  the  work  of  the  State  Con- 
vention here,  and  that  God  used  us  to  help  "raise 
the  dead." 

Brother  Francis  toiled  on  faithfully  until  the  build- 
ing was  completed.    Five  years  have  gone  by  since 

I 


130  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

our  visit  to  tiiat  town,  and  great  have  been  the 
changes,  it  is  rapidly  developing  into  a  much  bet- 
ter town.  The  State  Convention  has  continued 
the  work  there  ever  since.  The  church  is  growing 
under  the  ministrations  of  a  faithful  pastor  and  they 
have  a  new  parsonage  and  an  enlarged  house  of 
worship. 

Our  last  trip  will  be  from  Minnesota  to  Nebraska. 
I  attended  the  Board  meeting  in  Omaha,  March  31, 
1905,  and  then  at  the  direction  of  Brother  Brinstad, 
the  state  superintendent  of  missions,  went  directly 
to  the  town  of  Bancroft,  Neb.  He  told  us  that  we 
would  find  a  weak  church  without  any  pastor  and 
they  would  need  all  the  help  we  could  give  them. 
After  the  car  was  side-tracked  we  hunted  up  the 
Baptists.  They  were  delighted  to  greet  us  and 
glad  we  had  come  so  soon.  Upon  consulting  with 
them  and  looking  around  the  town  we  ascertained 
that  we  were  in  a  town  of  some  six  hundred  people, 
four  Protestant  churches,  but  no  pastor  in  any 
church  at  work.  The  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  was  laid  aside  by  illness  and  had  resigned 
his  charge.  There  had  not  been  a  pastor  in  town 
all  winter.  The  Baptists  had  kept  up  their  Sunday- 
school  and  prayer  meeting  and  were  hoping  for 
some  one  to  come  and  help  them.  For  years  they 
had  prayed  for  the  town  and  they  believed  that 
their  prayers  were  to  be  answered  in  the  visit  of 
the  chapel  car  and  its  missionaries. 

We  found  the  religious  life  of  the  town  at  a  low 
ebb,  the  only  regular  prayer  meeting  being  that  of 


RESURRECTION  DEPARTMENT  131 

the  Baptist  church  and  this  attended  by  only  a  few 
people.  The  people  received  us  cordially  every- 
where, some  actually  hungering  for  a  little  spiritual 
help.  In  calling  upon  the  people  I  found  them  very 
responsive  and,  at  the  first  invitation  given  in  the 
car  for  those  who  wanted  to  be  Christians  to  ex- 
press it,  nine  arose.  Men  became  interested.  Some 
who  never  attended  church  came.  Every  one 
talked  of  the  car  meetings.  The  boys  and  girls 
crowded  the  afternoon  services  and  we  were  obliged 
to  take  the  evening  meetings  to  the  church  building 
before  a  week  had  passed.  At  the  very  first  Sunday 
morning  service  I  found  a  man  thirty-five  years  of 
age  waiting  for  me  to  talk  with  him.  He  was  in 
tears  and  told  me  that  he  had  never  had  any  service 
take  hold  of  him  as  ours  did.  He  wanted  to  be  a 
Christian  if  God  would  forgive  him  and  save  him. 
We  bowed  in  prayer  right  there  and  he  yielded 
himself  to  God.  We  found  so  many  who  seemed 
to  misunderstand  Christ  and  the  gospel.  How  God 
helped  us  to  pour  into  those  hearts  the  blessed  story 
of  a  Christ  living  and  dying  for  men  !  And  they 
did  appreciate  it  so  much.  Mrs.  Rust's  singing 
touched  them.  Many  came  and  told  her  how  this 
and  that  song  melted  them.  These  people  showed 
their  kindness  to  us  in  so  many  ways.  All  wanted 
to  know  what  they  could  do  for  us.  One  business 
man  had  his  daily  paper,  which  came  from  Minne- 
apolis, sent  to  the  car  every  morning.  Another 
business  man  sent  down  a  load  of  hard  coal,  etc. 
At  the  close  of  the  meetings  the  men  assembled  in 


132  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

the  chapel  car  decided  to  send  a  vote  of   thanks 
to  the  railway  company. 

What  about  results  ?  God  alone  knows  all.  All 
Christians  were  helped.  The  whole  religious  life 
of  the  community  was  strengthened.  One  man 
told  me  that  the  town  would  respect  Christianity 
as  never  before.  The  little  Baptist  church  began 
to  take  on  new  life.  The  baptistery  was  repaired. 
Baptisms  occurred  during  our  meetings.  Some 
thirty-three  people  were  received  by  baptism,  letter, 
and  experience.  The  Baptists  were  given  a  new 
standing  in  the  community  and  the  State  Conven- 
tion sent  in  one  of  their  missionaries  to  care  for  the 
church  until  a  suitable  pastor  could  be  secured, 
Mr.  John  Shaw,  who  was  a  deacon  in  this  church 
for  years,  died  in  California  the  day  we  began 
services  in  Bancroft.  His  body  was  brought  home 
and  the  chapel-car  missionary  preached  the  funeral 
sermon  to  more  people  than  the  church  building 
could  hold.  The  prayer  of  this  godly  man  had 
been  for  a  revival  in  his  church.  His  life  made 
every  one  believe  in  Christ.  The  funeral  was 
impressive  and  was  more  than  an  incident  in  their 
lives.  It  served  to  deepen  the  conviction  in  the 
hearts  of  many.  The  influence  of  this  noble  man 
was  very  perceptible.  During  the  last  few  days  of 
the  three  weeks'  meetings  the  interest  was  truly 
wonderful.  One  man  said  he  had  lived  there  six- 
teen years  and  never  had  he  seen  anything  like  it. 
One  man  who  was  a  backslider  and  had  not  been 
known  to  go  to  church  for  years  went  to  the  car  to 


RESURRECTION  DEPARTMENT  1 33 

attend  the  first  men's  meeting  and  in  three  days  he 
was  confessing  his  sins  and  told  me  that  he  had 
come  back  home.  He  meant  to  God's  home.  He 
was  a  gambler,  but  is  now  a  happy  Christian  and 
a  member  of  the  church. 

Thus,  my  reader,  you  can  easily  see  what  the 
power  of  the  chapel  car  is  to  help  weak  churches 
in  these  five  Western  States,  and  the  work  on  the 
other  five  cars  is  abundantly  blessed  along  the 
same  line. 


RURAL    DEPARTMENT 

WE  come  now  to  what  I  believe  to  be  the 
most  important  phase  of  our  work.  It  is 
very  true  that  all  of  the  work  on  the 
chapel  car  except  that  at  large  railroad  centers 
could  be  styled  somewhat  "  rural,"  but  in  this  chap- 
ter it  is  my  purpose  to  consider  the  service  rendered 
to  the  very  small,  destitute  towns,  where  there  are 
no  churches  of  any  denomination.  If  one  has  trav- 
eled much  through  our  Western  country  he  must 
have  noted  the  large  number  of  little  settlements 
near  the  railroad  stations.  As  you  look  from  the 
car  window  you  see  a  few  stores  and  houses  clus- 
tered near  the  railway.  There  will  usually  be  a 
general  store,  a  blacksmith  shop,  a  "hotel,"  post 
office,  grain  elevator,  one  or  two  saloons,  and  from 
two  to  a  dozen  houses.  Perhaps  there  are  not 
more  than  fifty  people  in  town.  The  country  for 
miles  around  would  have  a  settler  on  almost  every 
half  section  of  land,  however.  Sometimes  these 
towns  have  been  for  years  about  as  they  are,  while 
others  are  only  a  few  months  old.  At  one  time  we 
counted  seventy-five  of  these  churchless  communi- 
ties on  railway  lines  which  were  new  towns,  and 
they  were  in  one  corner  of  northwestern  Iowa. 
134 


RURAL  DEPARTMENT  135 

The  population  varies.  Sometimes  all  of  the  people 
are  foreigners,  at  other  times  thoroughly  mixed  with 
Americans,  and  at  other  times  we  find  that  nearly 
all  are  Americans.  Some  of  these  towns  are  not 
morally  bad,  while  others  are  nests  of  wickedness. 
Some  of  the  people  in  these  towns  have  been  away 
from  church  so  long  that  they  are  totally  indifferent 
to  the  gospel,  while  others  are  simply  hungering 
for  spiritual  food. 

These  were  the  towns  that  Dr.  Wayland  Hoyt 
had  in  mind  to  reach  and  help  when  he  suggested 
the  chapel-car  idea  to  his  brother  fifteen  years  ago. 
The  cars  were  purposely  constructed  to  give  these 
churchless  towns  a  church.  This  was  the  specific 
work  of  the  car.  At  the  time  the  first  car  was 
built  no  other  field  of  labor  was  before  us,  and  to 
this  day  there  is  no  place  where  the  car  so  per- 
fectly fits  as  it  does  in  a  destitute,  churchless  town. 
The  greatest  need  for  the  car  is  here  and  the  largest 
work  done  by  the  car  is  here.  Oftentimes  there  is 
not  a  hall  of  any  description  in  the  place  in  which  to 
hold  a  meeting  and  they  certainly  need  a  church 
building  and  preacher,  therefore  the  chapel  car  was 
built  and  manned.  If  these  towns  had  not  been  in 
existence  the  cars  would  never  have  been  put  on  the 
rails  in  all  probability,  and  if  no  towns  like  these 
existed  to-day  our  principal  work  would  be  cut  out. 

UTILITY  OF  THE  CAR 

With  a  picture  of  the  community  and  its  need 
before  us,  we  can  easily  see  that  the  car  itself  has 


136  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

a  service  to  render.  People  have  not  given  seven 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars  to  pay  for  each  of 
our  chapel  cars  simply  to  support  a  fancy  or  a  fad. 
In  scores  of  these  little  towns  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  do  the  work  without  the  car.  The  railway 
officials  build  their  cars  for  "business,"  so  the 
chapel  cars  were  constructed  for  "business."  We 
are  not  traveling  in  a  separate  car  because  some 
wealthy  people  wanted  to  waste  some  money  on 
us.  We  are  not  side-tracked  in  summer  resorts  and 
winter  retreats  for  pleasure.  We  are  on  the  line 
for  business — God's  business  too.  While  the  first 
car  was  evidently  given  with  an  idea  that  the 
scheme  was  somewhat  visionary,  yet  time  has 
proven  the  fallacy  of  the  "fad"  idea,  and  since 
then  practical  and  thoughtful  men  and  women  have 
sacrificed  to  build  the  remaining  cars,  because  they 
could  see  the  real  need  for  them  and  their  value  in 
supplying  this  need. 

These  years  of  experience  have  proven  without 
any  doubt  the  great  power  of  the  car  itself.  Some 
missionaries  have  been  obliged  to  hold  meetings  in 
little  rooms  of  private  homes,  in  small  schoolhouses 
with  uncomfortable  seats,  in  parts  of  store  build- 
ings with  the  people  seated  on  planks,  in  box  cars 
and  saloons,  and  almost  every  conceivable  place. 
How  much  better  to  have  an  attractive  audience 
room,  capable  of  seating  more  than  one  hundred 
people  in  comfortable  pews,  well  lighted,  and  nicely 
heated  in  winter,  cool  and  clean  in  summer,  plenty 
of  song  books,  an  excellent  organ,  blackboard,  etc.. 


RURAL  DEPARTMENT  1 37 

in  fact  a  church  with  a  city  equipment,  including 
choir  and  organist  and,  sometimes  best  of  all,  a 
"hotel."  1  have  been  in  pioneer  towns  where  I 
could  not  find  a  clean  room  to  sleep  in  nor  a  hotel 
table  fit  to  eat  from. 

The  chapel-car  missionaries  can  have  what  they 
need  and  not  demand  entertainment  from  the  peo- 
ple. Oftentimes,  however,  we  have  difficulty  in 
procuring  bread  (for  we  could  not  bake  on  the  car), 
and  in  summer  we  could  keep  nothing  without  ice. 
The  express  companies  hauled  the  ice  in  for  us 
sometimes.  Because  of  the  evident  utility  of  the 
car  itself,  and  the  consciousness  that  the  towns 
needed  it,  the  railway  companies  have  hauled  it  free. 
They  can  also  see  that  it  is  reasonable  to  haul  a 
church  building  to  a  town  where  the  people  have 
none,  therefore  the  legitimate  use  of  the  chapel  car 
in  the  churchless  communities  greatly  appeals  to 
the  officials  of  the  railroads. 

FIRST    EFFECTS 

Words  cannot  describe  what  the  advent  of  the 
car  means  to  destitute  towns  like  these  just  referred 
to.  I  wish  that  all  my  readers  could  be  with  us  for 
the  first  few  days  of  our  stay  in  some  of  these 
towns.  I  wish  you  could  see  the  mingled  expres- 
sions of  wonder,  consternation,  curiosity,  and  in- 
terest which  are  portrayed  upon  the  faces  of  the 
people,  both  young  and  old.  You  may  be  sure 
that  we  hardly  need  any  advertising.  Boys  and 
girls  and  adults  are  there  to  meet  the  train.     The 


138  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

children  are  asking,  "  What  is  it  ?  A  show  car  ?  " 
The  adults  are  exclaiming,  "Fine  car."  "Never 
saw  one  like  it."     The  chapel  car  is  "  it." 

Rev.  S.  G.  Neil,  who  with  his  wife  had  such 
marvelous  success  in  the  chapel  car  for  years,  told 
us  of  an  experience  of  theirs. 

They  were  away  out  in  a  little  place  in  Kansas. 
A  number  of  men  and  boys  had  gathered  about  the 
outside  of  the  car,  and  were  gazing  in  wonder  at  its 
beauty  and  size.  One  old  man  who  wore  a  long 
beard,  an  old  hat,  and  trousers  high  about  his  boot 
tops,  could  not  but  express  his  amazement.  He 
was  heard  to  say,  "  Gee,  that's  a  long  car !  I  have 
seen  cattle  cars  and  show  cars,  and  every  other 
kind  of  a  car,  but  that  beats  me.  1  wonder  what 
it  is."  Then  he  read,  "Chapel  Car,"  and  the 
verse,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the 
gospel  to  every  creature,"  and  the  name,  "Mes- 
senger of  Peace,"  and  finally  to  give  a  fitting 
climax  to  his  consternation  he  exclaimed,  "Well, 
if  that  don't  beat  the  devil."  Just  then  the  mis- 
sionary popped  his  head  out  of  the  window  and 
said,  "  That  is  it,  that  is  just  what  we  are  on  the 
line  for,  to  beat  the  devil." 

Sometimes  I  have  thought  that  the  arrival  of  the 
chapel  car  in  one  of  these  communities  produced  an 
effect  similar  to  that  observed  when  you  throw  a 
large  stone  into  a  quiet  pond.  There  is  a  distinct 
splash,  then  the  ripples  on  the  water  widen  until 
they  touch  the  farther  shore.  So  with  the  car. 
There  is  a  great  commotion  at  first,  and  the  influ- 


RURAL  DEPARTMENT  1 39 

ence  of  the  meetings  widens  until  it  often  touches 
the  country  for  ten  to  twenty  miles  around.  Peo- 
ple walk  in  night  after  night  from  homes  which  are 
from  one  to  ten  miles  away.  I  have  known  young 
people  to  walk  in  four  miles  when  the  thermometer 
registered  thirty  below  zero. 

Once  we  were  dropped  by  the  passenger  train  in 
a  little  place  in  the  woods  of  Minnesota.  The  con- 
ductor remarked  as  he  cut  the  car  off,  "  This  is  the 
city."  We  looked  about  us,  and  there  were  just 
two  buildings  in  sight.  In  that  place  I  preached  to 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  people.  The  woods 
were  full  of  them. 

One  Sunday  morning  in  the  fall  we  were  at  a 
town  on  the  North  Dakota  prairies.  There  was  no 
church  for  miles.  We  stood  at  the  door  of  the  car 
and  could  see  teams  and  wagon  loads  of  people  com- 
ing from  all  directions.  It  was  a  beautiful  sight. 
The  people  filled  the  chapel  car  and  seemed  to  drink 
in  every  word.  We  were  glad  that  we  could  give 
them  the  privilege  of  the  church  on  wheels. 

MEETINGS 

I  think  that  it  may  be  well  for  me  to  write  just  a 
few  words  about  how  we  conduct  our  meetings. 
Let  us  state  at  the  outset  that  we  go  into  the  towns 
expecting  to  find  some  of  the  people  anxious  for 
the  gospel,  and  we  always  find  them.  We  are  sure 
to  find  a  few  ready  to  be  Christians  at  once.  You 
can  see  responsiveness  stamped  on  their  faces.  We 
work  to  win  these  to  Christ,  and  their  confessions 


140  A  CHURCH   ON   WHEELS 

affect  the  indifferent  ones  so  that  conviction  deep- 
ens, and  we  are  in  the  midst  of  a  good  series  of 
meetings  almost  before  we  can  believe  it. 

As  to  the  meeting  itself.  The  missionary  stands 
at  the  door  to  welcome  each  one  as  he  or  she  comes 
in.  They  are  then  asked  to  unite  in  the  singing. 
The  missionary  announces  at  the  first  meeting,  and 
continues  to  remind  the  people,  that  these  are  not 
to  be  called  "  revival  meetings,"  but  rather  "  meet- 
ings to  help  people,"  and  he  also  states  why  the 
car  workers  are  there,  namely,  to  honestly  and 
kindly  seek  to  win  them  from  sin  to  Christ.  No 
scheming,  but  a  frank  understanding  between 
preacher  and  people.  They  know  we  are  there  to 
try  and  help  them.  There  must  be  no  chasm  be- 
tween us.  The  messenger  must  be  close  to  the 
hearts  of  his  hearers.  After  the  sermon  and  spe- 
cial songs,  we  work  for  definite  yielding  to  God  and 
confession  then  and  there.  We  use  many  methods 
to  accomplish  this,  but  never  ask  all  the  Christians 
to  stand,  thus  dividing  the  congregation.  We  use 
our  parsonage  for  an  inquiry  room. 

RESULTS   IN  THESE  CHURCHLESS  TOWNS 

I.  After  consulting  with  the  superintendent  of 
missions  we  arrived  at  a  station  in  northern  Iowa 
one  warm  day  in  June.  We  were  side-tracked  on 
the  prairie  and,  although  a  new  town  site  had  been 
platted,  all  that  we  could  find  that  looked  like  a 
town  was  two  elevators,  a  general  store  and  a  hard- 
ware store  and  a  lumber  vard  and  office.     There 


RURAL   DEPARTMENT  14I 

was  not  one  dwelling  house  in  the  town.  The 
storekeepers  were  young  men,  and  were  living  at 
the  rear  of  or  over  their  stores.  The  station  agent 
lived  a  mile  away.  We  found  an  excellent  class  of 
people  living  in  the  surrounding  country  when  we 
met  them,  but  the  first  day  we  did  not  know  that 
anything  could  be  done.  Our  first  meeting  was 
advertised  to  begin  at  8  P.  M.,  but  at  that  time  only 
one  man  was  in  the  car.  However,  by  8.45  P.  M. 
about  sixty  people  had  gathered,  and  we  had  an 
excellent  meeting.  Every  night  we  could  see  the 
teams  and  wagons  coming  in  about  8.30  o'clock. 
Those  people  would  work  on  their  farms  from  4 
and  5  A.  M.  to  nearly  7  P.  M.,  have  supper,  do  the 
"chores,"  and  get  to  the  chapel  car  about  8.45  or 
9  P.  M.,  and  then  return  to  their  homes  about  10.30 
or  II  each  night.  I  said  to  Mrs.  Rust,  "  They  are 
certainly  interested,  and  I  believe  we  will  have 
some  good  meetings."  Conviction  soon  settled  on 
them,  and  in  a  few  days  many  were  anxious  to  be 
Christians.  We  worked  hard  there,  and  suffered 
much  during  the  terrific  heat  of  the  day,  as  the 
thermometer  registered  over  one  hundred  degrees 
at  noon  for  almost  ten  days.  There  was  not  one 
tree  in  the  town,  and  the  car  stood  in  the  blazing 
sun  all  day.  But  it  paid  well.  God  blessed  the 
meetings  more  and  more  and  we  had  about  ten  to 
baptize  and  others  to  receive  on  experience.  It 
was  not  thought  best  to  organize  a  new  church 
here,  but  receive  these  into  the  membership  of  a 
church  nine  miles  away.     This  church  and  pastor 


142  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

would  care  for  this  new  field  as  an  outstation,  and 
by  giving  them  preaching  every  week  or  two  he 
would  have  his  salary  increased  a  hundred  dollars 
a  year. 

But  our  work  was  not  done  yet.  This  little  town 
was  to  grow  surely.  These  people  ought  to  have  a 
church  building.  The  matter  was  brought  before 
them  publicly,  and  the  missionary  scoured  the 
country  on  wheel,  horseback,  foot,  and  carriage, 
to  see  the  people,  with  the  result  that  in  ten  days 
we  had  enough  pledged  to  warrant  starting  the 
building.  Committees  were  appointed,  lots  do- 
nated, lumber  ordered,  and  plans  and  specifications 
drawn  up  by  the  missionary.  The  heat  continued 
to  be  almost  unbearable,  but  we  stayed  and  helped 
to  unload  the  lumber,  to  build  the  foundation,  and 
to  give  directions  to  the  carpenters.  My  heart  has 
been  deeply  touched,  as  I  have  seen  some  of  these 
faithful  people  work  and  sacrifice  to  get  a  church 
building  erected.  Oftentimes  they  were  too  poor 
to  have  carpets  on  the  floors  of  their  houses,  and 
they  had  heavy  mortgages  on  their  farms,  but  they 
could  not  think  of  living  like  heathen,  therefore 
they  would  give  to  the  very  utmost.  To  make  a 
long  story  short,  let  me  say  that  the  building  was 
completed  and  dedicated  in  the  fall.  The  pastor 
who  was  to  take  charge,  came  up  and  helped  raise 
the  money  needed  to  pay  the  debt,  it  was  all  paid 
and  no  money  came  from  any  religious  organization. 
Trustees  had  been  elected,  deed  turned  over  to 
them,  and  this  work  established  as  a  branch  of  the 


^E^m^' 

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1 

Laying  ihk  Folnliation 


Page  1-J2 


One  ok  On;  Ciiae'els 


RURAL  DEPARTMENT  143 

church  in  the  large  town  near  by  before  we  left. 
This  opens  up  a  new  field,  and  at  the  same  time 
strengthens  an  old  one.  The  town  has  a  number  of 
dwellings  now,  and  our  little  church  building,  which 
was  then  all  alone  on  the  prairie,  is  in  the  midst  of 
them.     The  Baptists  can  get  in  first  sometimes. 

2.  We  were  led  to  go  to  another  little  Iowa  settle- 
ment where  there  was  no  American  church.  The 
people  had  been  blessed  with  some  preaching  but 
very  few  people  ever  attended.  At  the  first  meet- 
ing in  the  car  we  had  about  one  hundred  present, 
and  we  could  not  care  for  the  crowds  on  Sunday. 
At  the  end  of  ten  days  one  prominent  man  and 
some  women  and  many  young  people  had  confessed 
Christ. 

In  this  town  there  was  a  well-known  merchant 
and  politician  who  was  exceedingly  skeptical  con- 
cerning religious  matters.  He  was  a  man  who  en- 
deavored to  live  a  clean,  honest  life.  His  wife  was 
a  Baptist,  and  she  longed  and  prayed  for  his  con- 
version. He  attended  nearly  every  meeting  the 
first  week.  One  Sunday  afternoon  he  called  at  the 
car  and  said  that  he  had  a  question  to  ask  me.  He 
had  been  having  an  argument  and  he  wanted  to 
know  "  If  a  man  could  not  be  a  Christian  without 
uniting  with  any  church  .?  "  I  smiled  and  kindly 
answered  that  "  I  would  rather  not  answer  that 
question  until  you  have  decided  to  be  a  Christian. 
Decide  to  be  a  Christian  anyway  ;  and  then,  when 
you  have,  come  and  talk  with  me  about  the  church 
matter,  for  that  comes  second,  not  first." 


144  A  CHURCH   ON   WHEELS 

That  evening  he  arose  in  meeting  as  one  who 
wanted  to  be  a  Christian,  and  the  next  night  he 
arose  and  publicly  said  as  his  voice  choked,  "  I  now 
unconditionally  surrender  to  the  God  whom  I  have 
rebelled  against  all  my  life." 

He  never  came  to  me  with  the  question  about 
the  church  ;  but  I  went  to  him  in  about  two  weeks 
and  said,  "My  brother,  how  about  baptism  and 
church-membership?"  He  answered,  "I  am 
ready,"  and  the  next  Sunday  he  and  his  little 
daughter  were  baptized  in  the  river.  Now  his 
whole  heart  is  in  the  work  of  the  church.  God  is 
using  him  and  honoring  him,  and  his  home  is  one  of 
tiie  happiest  of  earth.  I  have  just  received  a  letter 
from  this  man  (more  than  four  years  after  his 
conversion),  and  he  is  still  lifting  up  the  banner  of 
the  cross  in  that  town,  and  is  cashier  of  the  bank. 

I  must  record  one  other  special  incident.  The 
wife  of  the  hardware  merchant  was  converted  and 
was  thinking  of  baptism  and  church-membership  ; 
but  the  husband  rebelled  and  fought  the  truth,  and 
finally  became  angry  with  the  missionary,  and  at 
one  time  used  some  abusive  language  to  the  mis- 
sionary's face.  In  return  I  endeavored  to  be  un- 
usually kind  to  him.  The  poor  man  was  under 
such  deep  conviction  that  he  could  hardly  eat.  He 
stayed  from  meetings  for  a  few  days.  The  next 
Sunday  afternoon  he  asked  his  wife  to  pray  for 
him,  and  they  both  knelt  and  poured  out  their 
hearts  to  God.  That  evening  he  came  to  the  meet- 
ing with  his  wife  and  while  preaching  I  noticed  the 


RURAL  DEPARTMENT  145 

tears  trickling  down  his  cheek.  Mrs.  Rust  sang  a 
tender  song,  and  then  I  requested  those  who  wanted 
to  be  Christians  to  arise  and  he  jumped  to  his  feet. 
At  the  close  of  the  service  I  walked  down  the  aisle 
to  grasp  his  hand,  and  he  threw  his  arms  around 
me  and  sobbingly  begged  me  to  forgive  him.  God 
bless  him,  how  I  loved  him  !  Soon  he  was  happy 
in  the  Lord  and  the  very  next  Sunday  he  and  his 
wife  went  to  the  river  and  were  baptized. 

The  people  were  anxious  to  have  a  meeting- 
house, and  soon  a  lot  was  given,  and  enough  money 
was  pledged  to  make  us  sanguine  of  success.  The 
missionary  was  privileged  to  test  his  muscle  in  load- 
ing and  unloading  stone,  in  mixing  mortar  to  keep 
two  masons  busy,  and  in  shingling  the  roof.  In  three 
months  the  building  was  dedicated  free  from  debt, 
and  no  money  came  from  outside  the  community. 

The  district  missionary  came  and  organized  the 
church.  The  field  was  attached  to  a  much  larger  one 
near  by,  where  they  generally  have  a  pastor.  By 
doing  this  no  demand  was  made  on  State  convention 
funds,  a  new  field  was  opened,  and  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars  a  year  would  be  paid  to  the 
pastor  in  neighboring  field. 

3.  Rev.  D.  W.  Hulbert,  State  superintendent  of 
missions  for  Wisconsin,  approached  me  at  the  May 
meetings  in  1902,  and  asked  if  we  could  get  our  car 
to  a  small  churchless  town  in  Wisconsin.  At  that 
time  we  were  busy  in  another  State,  but  during  the 
summer  I  visited  that  little  town,  ascertained  con- 
ditions, and  promised  the  people  that  the  car  would 

K 


146  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

be  there  in  the  fall.  Rev.  N.  F.  Clark,  then  pastor 
in  a  neighboring  city,  went  to  this  town  occasion- 
ally during  the  summer  and  held  the  field  by 
preaching  in  the  rear  part  of  a  store  building. 

My  assistant,  Mr.  E.  A.  Spear,  and  I  arrived  in 
this  destitute  field  with  the  chapel  car,  November 
I,  1902,  and  began  a  regular  campaign.  Although 
there  had  been  some  preaching  in  a  schoolhouse 
which  was  one  and  one-half  miles  from  the  track, 
yet  most  of  the  people  knew  nothing  of  enjoying 
anything  like  gospel  services.  At  our  first  meeting 
we  asked  all  the  Christian  people  to  stay  to  a 
second  meeting  for  conference  and  prayer,  and  only 
one  person,  a  man  sixty-five  years  of  age,  remained 
with  us.  He  said  he  knew  of  no  others  who  were 
willing  to  confess  themselves  to  be  disciples  of 
Christ. 

Brother  Spear  and  I  decided  to  call  at  every  home 
within  two  or  three  miles  of  the  car.  With  a 
prayer  that  God  would  use  us  to  help  the  people  in 
these  homes,  we  started  out.  We  were  cordially 
received,  but  to  our  amazement  we  found  that  there 
were  no  people  in  the  neighborhood  who  were  will- 
ing to  acknowledge  that  they  had  ever  been  Chris- 
tians or  church-members.  We  could  not  under- 
stand it,  but  the  fact  was  that  the  field  was  virgin 
soil.  Soon  this  personal  work  in  the  homes,  and 
the  preaching  and  singing  in  the  car  began  to  bear 
fruit.  In  less  than  two  weeks  some  forty  gave  evi- 
dence that  they  had  really  yielded  their  hearts  to 
Christ. 


RURAL  DEPARTMENT  1 47 

There  were  many  interesting  conversions.  Per- 
haps I  had  better  write  of  a  few.  One  morning 
during  the  first  week  of  our  stay,  I  went  over  to  a 
house  near  the  car  to  get  some  milk.  I  saw  tears 
in  the  eyes  of  three  people  whom  I  met  there,  and 
I  was  confident  that  God's  Spirit  was  quietly  work- 
ing. As  I  was  leaving  the  house,  a  noble  young 
man  came  to  me,  and  spoke  kindly  of  the  sermon 
he  had  heard  the  night  before.  I  answered  him 
thus  :  "  Thank  you,  but  Ben  what  are  going  to  do 
about  the  matter  yourself  ?  "  He  said,  "  Mr.  Rust, 
please  let  me  work  it  out  in  my  own  way."  I  said, 
"  Yes,  my  brother,  I  will,  but  remember,  you  will 
not  have  the  feeling  you  want  before  you  say  yes 
to  God."  He  said,  "  I  will  remember  that,"  and 
then  went  direct  to  the  cornfield.  Before  noon- 
time he  had  kneeled  by  his  wagon  and  in  the  open 
field  had  cried  to  God  for  mercy  and  had  yielded 
his  heart  to  Christ.  That  evening  he  came  to  the 
car  after  the  meeting,  as  he  was  detained,  and 
grasping  my  hand  tightly,  he  said,  "  Mr.  Rust,  I 
have  settled  it,  and  to-morrow  night  I  will  go  for- 
ward." He  was  true  to  his  word  and  the  next 
night  walked  down  the  aisle,  and  into  the  back 
room  and  on  his  knees  cried  because  of  his  sins. 
He  was  the  one  who  faithfully  helped  in  all  the 
work  of  the  church,  when  others  grew  careless. 

Let  me  tell  of  two  of  the  young  people,  one  a 
girl  of  thirteen  years,  bright,  responsive,  and  de- 
termined. She  was  in  a  home  where  the  parents 
were   not   Christians.      Her   experience   was   real 


148  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

indeed.  Her  face  revealed  a  new  light  after  receiv- 
ing Christ  into  her  heart.  One  day  she  came  to 
me  and  asked  if  she  might  become  a  member  of 
the  church.  She  was  told  to  talk  with  her  parents 
and  get  their  consent.  They  granted  her  request, 
but  manifested  very  little  interest  in  it.  She  was 
received  for  baptism  along  with  ten  others,  and 
was  told  when  to  meet  us  so  that  she  could  ride  to 
the  church  (seven  miles  away)  where  the  baptism 
was  to  be.  How  we  admired  this  noble  girl,  and 
yet  we  could  hardly  keep  the  tears  back  as  we  saw 
her  coming  down  the  roadway  the  next  day,  with 
her  bundle  of  clothing  under  her  arm,  all  alone, 
with  no  father  and  mother  to  go  with  her.  She  is 
rapidly  developing  into  Christian  womanhood,  and 
is  destined  to  fill  a  large  place  in  the  world  for 
Christ. 

The  other  was  a  boy  of  fifteen  who  was  con- 
verted. His  father  bitterly  opposed  his  being  bap- 
tized, but  finally  after  listening  to  the  pleadings  of 
his  boy,  consented.  The  mercury  was  about  zero 
on  the  day  of  the  baptism  and  we  had  seven 
miles  to  go.  The  section  foreman  was  to  be  bap- 
tized also,  so  he  procured  a  railroad  velocipede,  and 
all  three  of  us  started  on  it.  At  some  places  the 
track  was  partially  covered  with  snow,  and  we 
were  ditched  several  times  before  reaching  the 
church.  I  found  that  this  boy  was  thinly  clad  and 
was  suffering  from  the  cold,  but  no  murmur  escaped 
his  lips.  He  seemed  glad  to  be  able  to  obey  the 
command  of  his  Lord  and  follow  him  in  baptism. 


RURAL  DEPARTMENT  149 

The  church  of  seventeen  members  which  was 
soon  organized  was  born  in  real  hardship  and 
sacrifice.  It  cost  them  much  to  come  out  and  wit- 
ness together  for  Christ,  but  it  made  them  worth 
something  to  their  Lord.  We  had  been  in  town 
but  a  short  time  when  we  learned  that  a  devout 
old  man,  who  was  grandfather  to  Ben,  had  many 
times  gone  to  a  spot  on  a  corner  lot  and  prayed 
that  some  day  there  might  be  a  meeting-house 
erected  there.  His  prayers,  uttered  so  many  years 
ago,  were  now  being  answered  through  the  chapel 
car  and  its  workers. 

After  having  been  in  the  town  two  weeks,  we 
brought  the  matter  of  a  church  building  before  the 
people  and  secured  enough  money  in  pledges  to 
warrant  proceeding  with  the  plans.  We  were 
greatly  helped  by  one  family,  which  was  composed 
of  relatives  of  the  old  gentleman  who  had  prayed 
for  the  meeting-house.  One  morning  a  young  man 
from  this  family,  with  whom  I  had  talked  about  the 
church  building,  came  into  the  car  study  and 
handed  to  me  a  slip  of  paper,  which  was  a  promise 
to  give  two  lots  of  land  to  the  church  that  they 
might  build  a  meeting-house  on  them.  I  thanked 
him  heartily.  He  then  put  his  hand  down  deep 
into  his  pocket  and  drew  out  one  hundred  dollars  in 
gold,  saying,  "  Mr.  Rust,  this  is  what  we  will  give 
toward  the  new  meeting-house,  and  we  wanted 
you  to  have  the  cash  so  that  you  would  be  sure 
that  you  are  going  to  get  it." 

Enough  money  was  pledged  on  one  Sunday  to 


150  A  CHURCH   ON   WHEELS 

make  the  people  confident  that  they  would  have  a 
church  home,  and  they  were  very  happy.  This 
was  November  i6  and  cold  weather  would  soon  be 
here,  therefore  we  must  try  to  get  the  building 
started  at  once.  The  following  is  the  record  for 
the  next  week  : 

Monday.  Owner  of  a  stone  ledge  interviewed 
and  stone  donated.  Tuesday.  Stone  hauled  to  the 
lots.  Wednesday.  Mason  and  his  helpers  on  hand. 
Thursday  and  Friday.  Foundation  wall  being  laid 
and  finished.     Saturday.  Sills  and  floor  laid. 

Those  of  my  readers  who  have  ever  erected 
chapels  know  how  much  detail  work  the  missionary 
had  to  attend  to.  He  was  architect  and  hod  carrier, 
and  was  also  treasurer  of  the  building  fund.  Lum- 
ber had  been  ordered,  and  the  railroad  company 
hauled  it  free  from  the  mill. 

The  contractor  was  engaged  to  take  charge  of 
building  the  meeting-house,  many  men  donated 
their  labor,  and  by  February  i  the  house  was  ready 
for  dedication.  The  State  superintendent  of  mis- 
sions came,  preached  the  dedication  sermon,  and 
led  in  raising  the  money  so  that  no  debt  should  be 
on  the  building. 

Thus  as  a  result  of  the  visit  of  the  chapel  car  to 
this  destitute  field,  we  have  :  (i)  A  thousand-dol- 
lar chapel  built  and  paid  for.  (2)  A  whole  commu- 
nity aroused  to  religious  thought.  (3)  A  church 
organized  and  incorporated,  (4)  A  Sunday-school 
of  sixty  members  organized.  (5)  A  woman's  aid 
society  organized.     (6)  A  young  people's  society 


MIN'.MN".    A    (.'111    IK   11 


A  (  iirKCHT.Ess  Town 


Vauh  13."i 


RURAL   DEPARTMENT  151 

organized.  (7)  Lives  changed  for  eternity.  (8)  A 
regular  preaching  point  established. 

Let  me  state  that  no  call  has  been  made  on  the 
State  Convention  to  care  for  this  field.  The  pastor 
in  a  neighboring  town  preaches  here  every  Sunday. 
Of  course  this  is  not  possible  in  some  instances, 
but  this  is  ideal.  Words  can  never  express  what 
the  visit  of  the  chapel  car  meant  to  that  little  town. 

I  cannot  bring  this  chapter  and  story  of  chapel 
car  work  to  an  end  without  referring  to  the  service 
rendered  by  the  five  other  cars.  I  want  my  readers 
to  know  that  what  they  have  read  in  the  preceding 
pages,  can  be  more  than  duplicated  by  each  of  our 
other  cars.  I  honestly  believe  that  the  other  mis- 
sionaries can  tell  more  thrilling  incidents  than  I  can. 

For  more  than  ten  years  Rev.  J.  S.  Thomas  has 
been  wonderfully  blessed  on  "  Evangel."  I  think 
he  has  built  more  meeting-houses  than  any  other 
missionary. 

Rev.  B.  B.  Jacques  and  wife,  who  were  on 
"  Emmanuel,"  and  Rev.  E.  R.  Hermiston  and  wife, 
who  are  now  on  that  car,  could  give  us  many  start- 
ling facts  of  the  power  of  the  chapel-car  work. 

Rev.  G.  B.  Roger,  who  has  had  charge  of  "  Good 
Will  "  for  so  many  years,  could  repeat  the  story  of 
salvation  for  hours.     He  has  been  greatly  blessed. 

Rev.  S.  G.  Neil  and  wife  who  were  on  "Messen- 
ger of  Peace,"  did  have,  and  Rev.  J.  P.  Jacobs  and 
wife  who  are  now  on  that  car,  are  having  a  con- 
tinuation of  remarkable  experiences,  and  the  chapel 
car  has  been  a  power  in  their  territory. 


152  A  CHURCH   ON   WHEELS 

And  Rev.  A.  P.  MacDonald,  of  "Herald  of 
Hope,"  could  tell  you  of  town  after  town  that  he 
tried  to  do  work  in  as  a  district  missionary  and 
failed,  and  how  he  went  in  with  the  chapel  car  and 
a  church  was  organized  and  building  erected. 

God  has  certainly  blessed  all  the  chapel  cars  as 
the  following  results  show  :  Number  of  churches 
organized,  135;  meeting-houses  built,  112;  value 
of  these  meeting-houses,  $138,000  ;  pastors  settled, 
134  ;  Bible-schools  organized,  243  ;  baptisms  as  re- 
sult of  chapel-car  work,  4,578;  scores  of  weak 
churches  strengthened.  More  than  twelve  thou- 
sand professed  conversions. 


XI 

CO-OPERATION  DEPARTMENT 

1  THINK  it  is  generally  known  that  the  chapel 
cars  are  under  the  control  of  the  Baptist  de- 
nomination and  that  that  denomination  believes 
in  organization  of  Christian  effort.  Our  world-wide 
activities  are  well  organized  and  we  are  on  this 
planet  to  do  God's  work  in  a  business-like  and 
sensible  way. 

In  some  of  the  Western  States  where  we  have 
labored  the  Baptists  have  three  organizations  at 
work.  Each  one  has  its  field  and  purpose  clearly 
outlined,  but  all  are  working  harmoniously  together. 

At  this  point  in  my  narrative  I  want  to  take  time 
to  express  my  faith  in  and  appreciation  of  the  great 
work  of  our  Home  Mission  Society.  During  these 
years  of  service  I  have  been  in  close  touch  with 
its  district  and  State  representatives  and  many  of 
its  missionaries,  and  1  can  gladly  testify  to  the  effi- 
ciency of  its  laborers  and  to  the  marked  influence 
for  righteousness  which  it  has  exerted  upon  the 
throbbing  life  and  rapid  growth  of  the  great  West. 
The  people  in  the  West  certainly  owe  a  great  deal 
to  the  Home  Mission  Society. 

No  one  can  read  the  history  of  the  First  Baptist 
Church  of  St.  Paul,  Minn.;  of  their  early  struggles 

153 


154  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

and  how  the  Society  carried  them  for  years  by 
paying  five  hundred  dollars  of  the  six  hundred 
dollars  of  the  pastor's  salary,  and  of  the  Baptist 
work  in  the  State  which  developed  from  this  begin- 
ning, and  of  the  thrilling  story  of  those  two  young 
men  who  went  from  this  First  Church  to  the  Terri- 
tory of  North  Dakota  and  established  the  Baptist 
cause  in  that  region,  without  recognizing  the  power 
of  the  Society  in  the  development  of  the  West. 

And  then  when  you  add  to  this  the  story  of 
Baptist  missions  in  South  Dakota  one  cannot  help 
but  feel  truly  grateful  to  God  for  the  grand  work 
of  the  noble  men  in  this  time-honored  Society.  This 
Society  is  one  of  the  three  organizations  at  work  in 
the  Western  States. 

The  second  organization  is  the  State  Convention. 
The  very  name  implies  an  organized  State  service. 
This  is  an  incorporated  body.  On  its  Board  are 
representatives  from  the  whole  State,  and  a  more 
consecrated  or  godly  set  of  men  I  have  never  met. 
This  organization  has  come  into  existence  as  the 
pioneer  work  demanded  it.  I  have  been  in  personal 
touch  with  the  general  missionaries  and  correspond- 
ing secretaries  of  five  State  Conventions  in  the 
Northwest  and  we  have  enjoyed  delightful  fellow- 
ship together.  I  meet  with  them  in  their  Board 
meetings  and  pray  with  them  for  the  work.  This 
organized  effort  has  marvelously  developed  Baptist 
work  in  the  West  as  it  has  all  over  the  country. 
The  yearly  reports  of  the  general  missionary  of 
these  Conventions  are  full  of  facts  of  progress. 


CO-OPERATION   DEPARTMENT  1 51; 

The  third  organization  is  the  American  'Baptist 
Publication  Society.  This  Society  is  older  than 
either  of  the  two  just  mentioned,  and  is  known  as 
the  Society  that  does  Sunday-school,  colportage, 
chapel-car,  and  Bible  and  tract  work.  We  have  a 
distinctive  field,  yet  we  are  constantly  endeavoring 
to  make  our  service  fit  into  and  help  the  work  of 
the  other  two  organizations.  We  do  not  believe 
that  it  is  at  all  wise  to  assert  the  right  of  the  indi- 
vidual and  teach  that  each  one  should  do  as  his 
inclination  inspires  him  and  then  run  everywhere 
and  nowhere  doing  everything  and  nothing.  To 
have  the  best  work  done  we  need  to  get  together 
and  work  in  one  triple  team,  not  one  ahead  of  the 
other,  but  all  side  by  side  pulling  harmoniously 
together.  We  are  glad  that  during  all  of  these 
years  we  have  been  in  harmony  and  now  we  are 
closer  than  ever.  We  shall  remember  with  a  great 
deal  of  pleasure  these  years  of  labor  with  Rev.  E.  R. 
Pope,  of  Minnesota  ;  Rev.  D.  W.  Hulbert,  of  Wis- 
consin ;  Rev.  S.  E.  Wilcox,  of  Iowa  ;  Rev.  T.  M. 
Shanafelt,  of  South  Dakota  ;  and  Rev.  C.  W.  Brin- 
stad,  of  Nebraska.  I  think  I  may  add  that  as  a  result 
of  the  visit  of  our  honored  missionary  and  Bible  sec- 
retary, Dr.  R.  G.  Seymour,  to  the  Western  Con- 
ventions the  whole  work  of  our  Society  is  in  closer 
harmony  with  the  State  work  than  ever  before. 

SOMETHING  OF  AN  INNOVATION 

Our  Society  had  carried  on  its  regular  service 
in  these  Western  States  for  years,  but  in  1891  a 


156  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

new  and  novel  kind  of  a  work  was  put  into  its 
hands,  namely,  the  chapel  car.  This  was  so  new 
and  visionary  that  some  of  the  most  conservative 
people  considered  it  worthless  and,  at  best,  thought 
it  was  an  innovation.  It  created  quite  a  stir,  and 
questions  concerning  the  nature  of  its  work  and  the 
possibility  of  adjustment  began  to  arise.  This  was 
very  natural,  for  one  could  never  tell  where  such 
an  unheard-of  form  of  Christian  service  might  lead. 
Little  did  our  Society  know  of  its  power  at  that 
time.  It  was  an  experiment,  but  our  secretaries 
and  workers  were  from  the  beginning  only  desirous 
of  using  this  chapel  car  for  what  God  intended  it  to 
be  and  adjusting  it  to  all  other  Christian  work. 
We  had  no  conception  how  it  would  develop.  We 
have  been  in  school  all  these  years  and  are  just 
now  learning  its  power.  We  have  made  some  mis- 
takes, but  not  intentionally.  God  has  enabled  us 
to  profit  by  these  errors.  We  have  tried  and  are 
trying  to  have  the  car  work  a  "helper"  to  all 
organized  work  as  well  as  to  individuals.  As  the 
great  possibilities  of  the  chapel-car  movement  have 
developed  during  these  fifteen  years  we  have  ever 
sought  to  wisely  adjust  them  into  the  line  of  helping 
the  large  work  of  the  State  conventions  rather  than 
indifferently  allowing  them  to  hinder.  In  the  provi- 
dence of  God  the  chapel  car  was  given  to  our 
Society  and  we  received  it  as  a  sacred  trust,  not  to 
belittle  but  to  enlarge,  and  while  at  first  it  was 
almost  an  innovation  in  our  work  and  we  sent  it 
forth  on  its  mission  with  fear  and  trembling,  it  was 


CO-OPERATION  DEPARTMENT  1 57 

with  an  earnest  prayer  that  God  might  give  us 
wisdom  to  use  it  just  as  he  would  have  us.  As  its 
possibilities  increased  the  secretaries  recognized 
that  certain  difficulties  would  increase  and  they 
must  be  obviated  if  possible. 

I  have  before  me  some  letters  that  I  received 
from  Dr.  C.  C.  Bitting  and  Colonel  Banes  in  No- 
vember 1894,  more  than  ten  years  ago.  They  both 
wrote  me  about  the  distinctive  work  of  our  Society 
and  told  me  to  adhere  strictly  to  it.  I  must  be  con- 
tent to  leave  only  a  Sunday-school  organization  in 
a  town  and  must  not  attempt  to  organize  churches. 
That  work  belonged  to  the  State  Convention  and 
Home  Mission  Society,  and  there  must  be  no 
friction.  They  very  kindly  explained  it  all  to  me, 
and  surely  manifested  a  right  spirit  toward  the 
other  societies,  as  they  thus  planned  to  have  their 
workers  do  exactly  what  they  were  sent  out  to  do. 
They  did  not  realize  what  God  could  do  with  the 
car  in  bringing  to  pass  something  more  than  simply 
Sunday-school  organizations.  At  that  time  it  was 
dawning  on  me,  but  for  years  I  carefully  planned 
to  do  nothing  more  than  they  outlined  for  me,  and 
in  all  these  years  of  service  not  one  church  has 
been  organized  in  our  car  ("Glad  Tidings")  or 
through  our  efforts,  without  careful  consultation 
with  the  State  superintendent  of  missions.  For 
nearly  two  years  I  tried  to  satisfy  myself  with 
rather  a  flitting,  superficial  sort  of  a  routine. 
Only  a  few  days  in  a  place  and  then  organize  a 
Sunday-school.    We  hardly  dared  to  stay  very  long 


158  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

for  fear  we  might  have  enough  conversions  for  a 
church,  and  thereby  open  up  the  possibility  of  crit- 
icism as  a  demand  for  a  church  organization  came 
to  the  front.  We  were  before  two  difficulties.  If 
we  let  the  car-work  loose,  and  stayed  a  few  weeks 
and  had  many  conversions  and  material  for  a 
church  organization,  then  we  had  gone  outside  of 
our  legitimate  work.  On  the  other  hand,  if  we 
stayed  but  a  few  days  and  organized  simply  a  Sun- 
day-school and  there  was  no  permanent  church 
organization  and  building  to  show  for  the  money 
expended,  then  our  critics  relegated  chapel-car 
service  to  the  place  of  something  which  was  vision- 
ary and  superficial  and  declared  that  it  lacked  real 
power  to  do  anything  which  would  last.  This  was 
very  hard  on  me,  especially  when  I  was  becoming 
conscious  of  what  could  be  done  in  what  we  term 
"  permanent  work." 

Might  I  state  right  here  that  I  sometimes  think, 
however,  that  we  measure  our  religious  work  a 
little  too  much  by  statistics  of  buildings,  and  soci- 
eties organized  ?  I  know  of  something  that  is  far 
more  permanent  than  any  building  of  earth,  and 
that  is  a  saved  life  in  Jesus  Christ.  That  will  out- 
last all  the  storms  of  earth,  and  will  shine  in  God's 
kingdom  forever.  That  is  certainly  permanent.  If 
God  is  really  using  any  worker  of  his  to  save  lives, 
and  those  lives  are  regenerated  in  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  then  that  worker  is  doing  something 
permanent.  I  could  tell  you  of  many  such  lives 
being  saved  and  inspired  during   these  years,   in 


CO-OPERATION   DEPARTMENT  I  59 

towns  where  no  organization  was  effected  and  no 
building  erected,  and  they  are  still  proving  by  their 
fruits  that  the  roots  are  permanently  settled  in  the 
great  life  of  God.  This  thought  has  greatly  encour- 
aged me,  but  nevertheless  it  is  true  that  we  need 
organizations  and  buildings,  for  they  help  to  keep 
these  lives  saved,  and  are  centers  from  which  influ- 
ences are  to  radiate  toward  many  who  have  not 
been  touched.  We  as  Baptists  have  been  too  slow 
to  see  the  power  emanating  from  a  church  building, 
and  particularly  the  first  one  in  town.  There  was 
a  time  when  we  could  get  a  missionary  into  a  town 
on  the  first  train  and  we  were  forced  to  believe  that 
this  was  the  best  we  could  do,  but  now  we  can  run 
a  nice  church  building  in  and  side-track  it  there 
until  the  first  meeting-house  can  be  erected  in  the 
town.  There  is  power  in  this.  Workers  of  the 
State  Convention  can  easily  see  it. 

CO-OPERATION  DEVELOPMENT 

As  I  look  back  over  this  long  period  of  service,  I 
can  see  three  very  distinct  periods  of  development 
toward  the  happy  and  perfect  co-operation  which 
now  exists.  We  have  taken  these  steps  upward 
very  naturally  and  easily  as  we  have  come  to  them. 
We  did  not  come  together  at  first  with  blows  and 
then  quiet  down  to  love-pats,  nor  did  we  first  bring 
swords  in  our  hands  and  then  change  to  bouquets. 
There  was  no  need  for  such  methods.  We  were 
brothers  in  the  same  work.  Therefore  we  came 
together  in  loving  and  prayerful  consultation. 


l60  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

First  stage.  When  we  first  took  the  car,  our 
work  was  understood  to  be  limited  and  we  did  not 
need  to  consult  other  organizations  much.  We 
thought  of  church  organizations  as  hardly  possible. 
While  I  was  in  touch  with  the  State  Convention 
yet  I  had  my  work  in  the  line  of  Sunday-school 
endeavor  and  we  did  not  need  to  consult  often. 

Second  Stage.  Then  we  began  to  realize  the 
power  of  the  car  work  to  help  raise  dying  church 
interests  and  establish  new  ones.  We  were  get- 
ting closer  and  closer  into  affiliation  with  the  State 
Convention  workers,  and  a  mutual  understanding 
existed  between  us  that  we  would  work  together 
more  than  ever.  We  had  some  consultations  and 
generally  understood  about  what  we  were  to  do, 
although  definite  plans  were  not  laid.  I  would  look 
up  needy  fields  and  go  to  them  as  I  thought  best. 
Then  if  I  found  church  organization  ought  to  be 
effected,  I  would  seek  the  advice  of  the  superin- 
tendent of  missions,  and  seek  to  impress  him  with 
the  importance  of  caring  for  the  work  at  that  point. 

Third  stage.  One  can  easily  perceive  that  the 
first  is  hardly  co-operation  at  all,  and  that  the  sec- 
ond was  far  from  perfect.  Both  might  lead  to  much 
waste  of  time  and  to  many  mistakes.  As  the 
chapel  car  could  be  so  wonderfully  used  to  further 
the  work  of  the  State  Convention,  it  would  certainly 
be  best  to  have  it  identified  with  that  body  and 
under  its  direction.  Then  we  would  feel  our  work 
was  counting  for  the  most,  and  the  State  Conven- 
tion would  know  just  what  was  being  done.     So 


CO-OPERATION  DEPARTMENT  l6l 

while  the  cars  remained  under  the  Publication  So- 
ciety as  the  denomination  voted  at  Buffalo  in  1903, 
yet  they  were  to  be  considered  as  being  under  the 
direction  of  the  State  Convention.  Instead  of  going 
anywhere  and  stopping  for  meetings,  and  then  if 
the  work  turned  out  well  and  needed  help,  notify 
the  State  Convention,  we  now  go  to  the  Conven- 
tion first,  either  to  the  general  missionary  or  into 
the  meeting  of  the  Board,  and  a  committee  is  ap- 
pointed and  work  at  various  points  is  definitely 
planned,  with  the  expectation  that  it  will  be  fol- 
lowed up  and  cared  for.  We  are  thus  a  part  of 
the  organized  work  of  the  State.  During  recent 
years  the  superintendent  of  missions  has  many 
times  gone  himself  to  look  over  the  field  and  then 
requested  me  to  go  with  the  car.  Sometimes 
these  were  new  interests,  sometimes  dying  ones. 
When  letters  come  to  me  with  requests  to  visit 
certain  fields,  I  submit  these  to  the  superintendent 
of  missions,  and  in  consultation,  we  decide.  I  go  to 
the  Board  meetings,  send  my  reports  to  the  Board, 
and  feel  myself  a  part  of  its  work.  We  have  delight- 
ful fellowship  together  and  the  work  is  pleasant. 
This  is  co-operation  surely.  We  have  had  more  or 
less  of  this  all  these  years,  but  now  it  seems  to  be 
perfected  and  we  are  happy  in  its  possibilities.  In 
these  Board  meetings  I  have  learned  of  the  many 
requests  that  come  for  the  Convention  to  help. 
Because  of  lack  of  funds,  some  of  these  must  be 
answered  by  "Impossible,"  and  others  must  have 
the  amount  of  money  cut  down.     I  do  sympathize 

L 


l62  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

with  the  Board  in  these  problems  and  I  would  cer- 
tainly be  more  than  unreasonable  to  attempt  to  add 
any  more  burdens.  Yet  they  feel  that  we  cannot 
stop  all  aggressive  and  new  work,  even  if  many 
weak  interests  are  calling  loudly. 

In  some  States  the  chapel  car  has  been  able  to 
help  the  State  Convention  in  what  I  term  an  ideal 
way.  If  you  remember  in  the  chapter  preceding 
this,  of  the  results  in  churchless  towns,  you  will 
recall  how  in  each  of  those  three  fields  mentioned 
(and  I  could  mention  more),  a  new  work  was 
opened,  buildings  erected  and  paid  for  and  no 
money  asked  from  building  fund,  and  salary  added 
to  that  of  the  pastor  of  the  organized  church  near 
by.  During  these  years  the  Convention  has  never 
been  called  upon  to  support  these  interests.  This 
is  ideal  and  can  be  done  often  when  planned  ;  how- 
ever, we  recognize  that  at  times  the  Convention 
wants  us  to  open  a  new  field  and  it  expects  to  put 
money  into  it. 

Then  in  Chapter  XI.  Brother  Francis'  story  of 
the  work  of  the  car  at  Bemidji  shows  what  help  it 
was  at  that  critical  moment  and  what  can  be  done 
with  co-operation  and  good  planning.  In  my  judg- 
ment many  new  fields  can  be  opened  up  by  means 
of  the  chapel  car  without  adding  any  burden  to  the 
State  Convention,  by  following  this  plan  : 

Ascertain  where  there  are  churchless  towns  or 
small  communities  which  reveal  the  possibilities  of 
a  new  Baptist  church,  near  to  a  Baptist  church  with 
a  settled  pastor.     If  that  pastor  would  care  for  the 


CO-OPERATION  DEPARTMENT  163 

new  interest,  then  run  the  chapel  car  into  the  little 
town  and  have  it  stay  until  the  new  field  could  be 
developed.     This  has  been  done  many  times. 

The  possibilities  of  the  chapel-car  work  under 
existing  conditions  of  perfected  co-operation  are  so 
great  that  they  can  hardly  be  expressed. 


CHAPTER  XII 
WHAT  OF  THE  FUTURE  ? 

THERE  is  no  doubt  but  that  this  question  comes 
to  the  minds  of  a  great  many  people.  They 
need  no  arguments  more  than  the  facts  to 
prove  that  up  to  this  moment  the  movement  has  been 
remarkably  successful  and  productive  of  really  mar- 
velous results.  But  how  long  can  it  continue  ?  is  the 
question.  Will  we  need  the  cars  forever }  Will 
not  conditions  change,  so  that  by  and  by  they  would 
be  useless  ?  These  are  reasonable  questions,  and 
we  ought  to  be  able  to  answer  them. 

Let  me  state  first,  that  if  all  of  the  cars  should  go 
out  of  commission  to-day,  and  never  be  used  again^ 
no  one  could  justly  declare  that  the  work  was  a 
failure.  The  man  who  gave  our  car  said  that  "If 
'  Glad  Tidings  *  were  to  be  demolished  in  a  wreck, 
and  never  could  be  built  again,  he  would  always 
thank  God  that  he  had  had  the  privilege  of  giving 
it,  and  these  few  years  of  service  were  worth  all  it 
had  cost." 

If  the  work  should  suddenly  stop,  the  cars  have 
served  a  noble  purpose  and  they  could  be  easily 
sold  for  good  money,  and  that  money  could  be 
used  in  furthering  other  work  under  our  Society. 
However,  we  have  no  fear  that  this  will  occur  very 
164 


WHAT  OF  THE   FUTURE  ?  165 

soon,  and  when  I  am  asked  about  the  future,  and 
people  ask  me  as  to  what  the  prospects  are,  I  in- 
variably answer  in  the  words  of  another,  "  Bright 
as  the  promises  of  God."  When  he  wants  it  to 
stop,  we  are  willing.  When  his  blessing  ceases 
and  his  glory  departs  from  us,  as  he  writes  "  Icha- 
bod  "  on  the  side  of  each  car,  then  we  can  say 
truthfully,  "  It  is  useless  to  continue,  we  have  no 
future  prospects,"  but  while  such  blessing  attends 
every  turn  of  the  wheels,  we  feel  that  the  future 
is  resplendent  with  glorious  possibilities. 
Let  me  answer  some  questions  in  order. 

1.  What  of  the  Future  Coticerning  the  Car  Itself? 
"Glad  Tidings"  has  been  in  service  about  eleven 
years,  and  looks  almost  as  good  as  new  to-day.  It 
has  been  placed  in  the  shops  every  eighteen  months 
during  these  years,  for  varnish  and  paint,  and  we 
have  tried  to  be  earful  of  the  interior  finish,  so  that 
one  would  Hardly  believe  that  some  three  thousand 
meetings  had  been  held  in  it.  Then,  as  the  car 
does  not  average  two  thousand  miles  a  year  now, 
the  wear  on  the  trucks  is  reduced  to  a  minimum. 
I  see  no  reason  why  our  car  cannot  be  used  for  one 
hundred  years. 

2.  IVhat  of  the  Future  Concerning  Transportation? 
As  to  the  future  concerning  transportation  there 
is  no  room  for  anxiety.  He  who  has  led,  will  lead 
One  enthusiastic  general  manager  who  has  care 
fully  examined  the  work  of  the  chapel  car,  has  re 
quested  our  Society  to  keep  a  car  on  his  line  ai 
the  time,  and  in  consultation  with  another  promi 


l66  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

nent  railroad  official,  he  proposed  building  a  car 
and  keeping  it  on  the  line  for  the  good  of  his 
own  men. 

Some  one  asked  the  question  as  to  whether  the 
time  will  come  or  not,  when  we  will  have  to  pay 
mileage  for  our  cars.  We  are  conscious  that  the 
railroads  may  feel  they  have  granted  free  trans- 
portation long  enough  and  therefore  ask  us  to 
pay  something  for  their  hauling  the  cars  ;  but  if 
this  does  come,  and  every  car  is  running  on  a  pay- 
ing mileage  basis,  it  will  not  stop  the  chapel-car 
work.  If  the  work  is  planned  correctly  the  car 
does  not  move  many  miles  in  a  year.  1  can  see 
how  the  mileage  of  the  chapel  car  could  be  kept 
under  a  thousand  miles  a  year,  which  would  not 
make  it  so  very  expensive  while  paying  for  trans- 
portation. But  we  are  not  worrying.  The  work 
is  in  God's  hands.  Just  now  it  does  not  look  as  if 
the  time  would  ever  come  when  we  would  be 
obliged  to  pay  mileage  for  all  of  our  cars.  One  of 
our  car  missionaries  writes,  "My  ' annual '  for  1905 
is  at  hand.  It  reads,  '  Pass  the  car  and  missionary 
and  three  assistants.'  "  Another  missionary  writes, 
"  1  have  seven  annual  passes  for  1905  for  car  and 
party,"  and  the  author  has  three  in  his  pocket  at 
this  writing.  Judging  from  this,  we  are  believing 
that  most  of  the  railroad  companies  believe  that 
the  work  is  worth  the  cost  of  hauling  the  cars.  If 
anything  occurs  which  will  put  all  of  the  cars  on 
the  mileage  basis,  then  the  railroads  will  no  doubt 
allow  us  to  sell  religious  books  and  we  can  cover 


WHAT  OF  THE  FUTURE  ?  167 

expenses  with  the  profits  accruing  from  the  sales  ; 
therefore  we  have  nothing  to  fear  here. 

3.  PVhat  of  the  Future  Concerning  Co-operation  ? 
The  denomination  has  decided  that  the  chapel  cars 
are  to  remain  with  the  American  Baptist  Publi- 
cation Society.  Co-operation  in  all  States  where 
the  cars  are  working  is  perfect.  They  are  con- 
sidered to  be  a  part  of  the  work  of  each  State  and 
the  sweetest  fellowship  exists  between  State  and 
car  missionaries.  The  workers  are  hand  in  hand, 
and  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  the  service  of  the 
Master.  We  do  not  know  how  it  could  be  any 
better.  You  would  never  know  that  they  are 
under  separate  societies.  Their  work  blends  in 
perfect  harmony.  1  have  just  received  a  letter 
from  the  president  of  the  State  Convention  Board 
of  Nebraska,  and  another  from  the  State  superin- 
tendent of  missions  for  that  State,  asking  me  to  be 
present  at  the  next  Board  meeting,  that  we  together 
may  plan  for  future  work  in  Nebraska.  Such  co- 
operation is  simply  delightful.  Since  writing  this, 
we  have  begun  work  in  Nebraska. 

4.  IVJmt  of  the  Future  Concerning  Fields  ?  The 
question  as  to  how  many  years  the  country  will 
furnish  pioneer  work  in  new  and  small  church- 
less  towns  for  the  chapel  car,  arises  quite  often. 
While  the  time  may  come  sometime,  when  our 
Western  country  may  be  so  settled  that  new  towns 
are  unheard  of,  yet  that  is  so  far  in  the  dim  future, 
that  it  has  little  effect  on  us  at  the  present.  Judg- 
ing from  what  we  can  see    now,   a  conservative 


l68  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

estimate  would  give  us  at  least  fifty  years  more  of 
genuine  pioneer  work.  We  could  use  a  car  in 
each  of  the  States  west  of  the  Mississippi  for 
many  decades  of  years.  The  possibilities  are  sim- 
ply unlimited.  In  northern  Minnesota  hundreds 
of  miles  of  new  track  are  to  be  laid.  The  other 
States  are  putting  in  much  new  track,  and  open- 
ing up  rich  country.  In  the  Big  Horn  Basin  in 
Wyoming,  two  railroads  are  building  and  new 
towns  by  the  scores  are  springing  up.  In  one 
corner  of  Iowa  we  knew  of  seventy-five  new 
towns  in  a  single  year.  I  have  a  scheme  in  my 
mind  concerning  the  best  way  to  do  efficient  work 
on  a  new  line  of  railway,  in  co-operation  with  the 
State  Convention.  After  much  prayer  and  plan- 
ning in  the  Board  meeting,  select  a  new  line  of 
railway,  say  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  length, 
where  from  ten  to  twenty  new  towns  have  been 
platted.  Have  the  Board  appoint  a  district  mis- 
sionary and  the  chapel-car  missionary  to  put  a  full 
year  in  on  that  line.  Let  the  district  missionary 
go  over  the  line  carefully,  stop  at  the  towns,  select 
ten  or  a  dozen  to  work  in.  Hold  a  meeting  in  a 
station  or  home  or  anywhere  to  hold  the  field, 
and  make  a  regular  appointment.  Then  run  the 
chapel  car  in  for  a  series  of  meetings  in  some 
town.  Let  it  put  in  a  full  month,  endeavor  to  get 
souls  saved,  church  organized,  and  building  started. 
Then  go  to  another  field  and  at  the  same  time  watch 
and  care  for  the  work  just  started.  Do  the  same  if 
possible  in  each  town.      Combine  the  fields,  put 


WHAT  OF  THE   FUTURE  ?  169 

pastors  on  them,  etc.  I  firmly  believe  it  would 
pay  to  put  in  a  whole  year  on  this  one  short  line. 
At  the  end  of  that  time,  under  the  blessing  of  God, 
they  ought  to  report  something  like  this :  Three 
hundred  conversions,  two  hundred  baptisms,  ten 
churches  and  Sunday-schools  organized,  ten  meet- 
ing-houses erected,  four  pastors  settled,  a  whole 
railway  line  in  touch  with  God.  Why  not  concen- 
trate like  this  ?  I  confidently  affirm  that  these 
results  could  be  achieved  in  one  year  if  we  put 
our  life  into  such  a  movement. 

5 .  IVhat  of  the  Future  Concerning  Money  for  Its 
Support?  A  very  pertinent  question  as  we  consider 
the  support  of  the  cars  is,  "  Where  does  the  money 
come  from  }  "  and  another  question  that  naturally 
arises  is,  "  Do  you  not  take  collections  in  the  towns 
that  you  visit  ?  "  In  answering  the  first,  let  me 
state  that  the  chapel-car  work  is  not  endowed 
(although  we  wish  it  could  be),  and  we  depend 
upon  the  freewill  offerings  of  the  people. 

In  answering  the  second  question,  I  would  state 
that  we  do  take  collections  in  all  the  towns  we 
visit,  and  the  people  are  glad  to  give  what. they 
can.  But  as  the  work  is  mostly  pioneer  in  its 
nature,  the  collections  must  necessarily  be  small. 
In  fact  the  idea  of  sending  this  equipped  church  on 
wheels  into  these  little  towns,  was  to  give  them 
the  privileges  of  religious  worship  that  large  towns 
and  cities  enjoy,  and  not  demand  that  they  should 
pay  for  the  entire  cost  of  it. 

In  the  small  towns  we  have  at  times  found  the 


170  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

people  very  appreciative,  and  when  they  could  afford 
it,  they  would  give  liberally.  I  remember  visiting  a 
churchless  town  in  Wisconsin.  There  were  some 
responsive  Swedish  people  there.  Some  of  them 
worked  for  the  ice  companies.  One  day  a  man  who 
had  received  a  great  blessing  in  the  meetings,  came 
to  the  car  and  handed  a  ten-dollar  bill  to  me,  saying, 
"Mr.  Rust,  1  want  to  do  something  for  Jesus."  A 
few  days  after  this  I  met  his  brother  who  had  been 
converted,  and  he  said,  "  Mr.  Rust,  I  too  want  to  do 
something  for  Jesus,"  as  he  handed  ten  dollars  to 
me.  These  men  were  getting  but  forty-five  dollars 
a  month  and  had  families  to  care  for.  However,  I 
have  never  had  the  people  give  so  largely  since. 

1  remember  we  had  about  a  hundred  in  the  car 
one  night  in  a  pioneer  town,  and  the  basket  was 
passed,  but  there  was  but  eight  cents  in  it  when  I 
received  it.  Those  people  had  plenty  of  cabbages 
and  potatoes,  but  little  cash.  The  offerings  in  the 
small  towns  do  not  amount  to  enough  to  pay  for 
the  repairs  on  the  car. 

Then  again,  when  we  erect  a  meeting-house, 
these  people  truly  sacrifice  to  pay  for  it,  and  there- 
fore have  little  money  to  give  for  the  chapel  car. 
If  we  were  to  stay  in  the  small  churchless  towns 
all  the  time  one  can  easily  see  that  the  collections 
would  not  enable  us  to  pay  many  bills.  It  is  cer- 
tainly a  blessed  ministry  to  be  able  to  give  the 
people  in  these  destitute  places  this  kind  of  Chris- 
tian service,  for  they  would  never  have  it  if  others 
did  not  send  it  to  them. 


WHAT  OF  THE   FUTURE  ?  I7I 

It  costs  about  two  thousand  dollars  to  pay  for 
two  missionaries,  and  the  repairs,  etc,  on  each  car 
each  year.  This  is  far  from  being  expensive  when 
you  consider  the  work  done.  We  need  money  to 
keep  up  the  work  of  these  cars,  and  I  see  no  reason 
why  I  may  not  state  right  here,  that  if  any  of  my 
readers  feel  as  if  they  would  like  to  contribute  a  spe- 
cial offering  to  this  work  it  would  reach  me  if  mailed 
to  No.  1420  Chestnut  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

6.  IVhat  of  the  Future  Concerning  the  Prosecution 
of  the  Work?  The  Publication  Society  has  revealed 
its  ability  to  care  for  the  chapel-car  service  of  the 
denomination  in  a  commendable  way,  and  because 
of  its  experience  and  a  firm  faith  in  the  power  of 
this  service,  we  believe  no  other  organization  could 
do  the  work  with  better  success. 

With  a  sincerity  that  has  always  characterized 
its  activities  the  Publication  Society  stands  ready 
to  do  three  things  regarding  the  chapel  cars  : 

1.  As  one  of  my  teachers  once  told  me  when 
leaving  school,  "Rust,  you  stick."  I  have  been 
endeavoring  to  "stick"  to  this  work  and  the 
Society  is  determined  to  "stick"  to  it  also,  and 
because  it  believes  in  it. 

2.  The  Society  is  endeavoring  to  put  the  best 
effort  into  it.  To  constantly  aim  to  make  it  the 
best  it  can  be  is  its  purpose. 

3.  The  Society  is  ready  to  increase  it  if  con- 
tinued and  enlarged  support  can  be  guaranteed.  It 
certainly  seems  as  if  millions  of  people  would  be 
glad  to  help  in  supporting  it. 


172  A  CHURCH   ON  WHEELS 

The  Society's  officers  and  management  and  all 
of  the  chapel-car  missionaries  are  agreed  that  it 
is  one  of  the  most  powerful  evangelistic  agencies 
of  the  twentieth  century.  They  ought  to  know 
something  about  it.  Surely  there  is  no  reason  why 
this  service  should  not  be  continued  with  increased 
efficiency  if  money  is  given  to  support  it. 

I  wonder  if  you  remember  the  story  of  the  old 
man  who  had  heard  of  the  locomotive  and  went  to 
see  it  for  the  first  time.  He  expressed  his  lack  of 
faith  in  the  thing,  and  declared  that  it  would  never 
go.  He  admired  its  wonderful  parts,  but  kept  re- 
peating "  It  will  never  go."  By  and  by  it  started, 
and  moved,  slowly,  then  faster,  and  soon  was 
away  off  in  the  distance.  He  stood  gazing  at  it, 
and  then  declared  "It  will  never  stop."  The 
chapel-car  movement  has  had  about  the  same  ex- 
perience as  this  locomotive.  At  first  many  declared 
"  It  will  never  go,"  and  when  it  did  go  at  such  a 
rapid  rate  they  gazed  at  it  and  exclaimed,  "  It  will 
never  stop."  We  are  sure  that  it  is  going.  There 
is  no  doubt  about  that.  We  are  not  worrying 
about  its  stopping.  It  will  stop  when  God  wants  it 
to,  and  not  till  then.  We  are  not  throwing  any 
sand  under  the  wheels,  though,  nor  are  we  putting 
the  brakes  on.  It  could  go  much  faster,  however, 
if  we  only  had  more  money  to  generate  steam  with. 

THE   DEVELOPMENT   OF  A  CHILD 

About  fifteen  years  ago  a  baby  was  born  in  the 
Baptist   family.     That  baby  was  the   Chapel-car 


WHAT  OF  THE  FUTURE  ?  I73 

Movement.  He  was  born  in  the  minds  of  noble 
Christian  men,  but  no  child  of  earth  ever  came 
from  heaven  more  directly  than  he  did.  He  was 
born  at  a  time  of  special  need  and  was  destined  to 
fill  that  need.  The  progress  of  the  nineteenth 
century  demanded  him  and  the  world  cried  for  him. 

However,  his  coming  into  the  Christian  and  Bap- 
tist home  life  was  a  genuine  surprise.  No  prepara- 
tion had  ever  been  made  for  his  birth.  In  fact,  very 
few  in  the  family  welcomed  him.  Brothers  and 
sisters  gathered  about  him  in  wonder.  They  had 
never  seen  a  child  like  him  before.  It  was  true 
that  all  members  of  the  Baptist  family  did  not  look 
nor  act  alike,  but  this  one  did  not  resemble  any 
one  in  the  home.  He  was  not  like  any  of  the 
others  in  form  or  features.  In  fact  no  child  of  any 
family  of  Christian  work  was  ever  shaped  as  he 
was.  He  was  so  entirely  different  that  we  called 
him  a  decided  innovation.  Where  to  put  him  and 
what  to  do  with  him  we  did  not  know.  We  con- 
sidered him  a  tiny  weakling,  and  yet  we  were 
afraid  of  him.  The  question  before  us  was,  Who  is 
going  to  nurse  and  train  him  ?  No  one  desired  the 
task.  Very  few  in  the  family  had  much  if  any 
faith  in  him,  and  the  poor  child  was  tossed  from 
one  to  the  other,  and  finally  landed  in  the  lap  of 
the  American  Baptist  Publication  Society. 

While  some  opened  the  doors  of  criticism  and 
allowed  the  cold  air  of  unbelief  to  rush  in  on  him 
(chilling  him  to  the  bone  and  almost  bringing  on 
pneumonia  and  death),  and  others  declared  that  he 


174  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

was  only  a  toy  baby  and  was  not  real,  and  others 
were  sure  that  he  would  never  live,  and  it  would 
have  been  much  better  for  "the  poor  thing,"  and 
for  the  world,  if  he  had  not  been  born,  and  still 
others  dismissed  him  from  their  thought  with  the 
statement  that  he  had  no  mission  in  the  world  and 
that  he  was  not  wanted  in  the  family, —  the  Publi- 
cation Society,  with  trembling  and  fear,  opened 
her  arms  and  took  him  in  as  he  was  presented  to 
her.  She  was  determined  that  she  would  accept 
him  from  the  Lord  as  a  legitimate  child  born  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  that  she  would  feed  him,  train  him, 
and  send  him  out  into  the  world  to  be  useful  in 
extending  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

As  we  look  back  over  those  early  days  we  can 
blame  no  one  for  criticizing  him,  for  we  certainly 
did  misunderstand  him,  and  some  of  the  most  san- 
guine had  some  doubt  about  his  ancestry,  and  also 
concerning  his  power  to  maintain  any  rightful  place 
in  the  great  Baptist  family.  But  this  did  not  prove 
that  he  was  worthless,  for  hundreds  of  children 
have  been  born  into  the  human  family  without  any 
cordial  reception,  yet  in  after  years  they  have 
demonstrated  to  the  most  skeptical  that  they 
deserved  a  large  place  in  the  hearts  of  men. 

The  secretaries  of  the  Society  into  whose  lap  he 
had  fallen,  gazed  at  him  dubiously  during  those 
early  days  of  infancy.  They  would  look  at  him  in 
his  cradle  and  discuss  his  origin  and  possibilities, 
and  when  the  time  came  to  send  him  forth  into  the 
world  to  see  what  he  could  do,  they  confessed  that 


WHAT  OF  THE  FUTURE  ?  I75 

they  were  obliged  to  put  many  question  marks  after 
his  name.  They  worried  quite  a  little  about  their 
boy,  because  he  was  so  strange  and  so  many  derog- 
atory remarks  had  been  made  about  him.  They 
wondered  how  the  world  would  receive  him.  Then 
they  were  specially  sympathetic  with  him,  for  he 
was  so  peculiarly  constructed  that  he  could  not 
make  his  way  through  the  world  as  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  family  did.  He  was  made  to  go  on 
steel  highways  only,  and  these  highways  were  not 
public  thoroughfares,  and  were  controlled  by  people 
who  were  liable  not  to  take  very  kindly  to  him.  If 
these  people  refused  to  allow  him  on  their  steel  rails, 
then  the  Society  would  be  obliged  to  build  a  special 
house  for  him,  and  this  they  could  ill  afford  to  do. 

However,  if  he  had  been  allowed  to  speak  for 
himself  I  think  he  would  have  said:  "I  have  no 
fear,  just  give  me  a  fair  chance  and  I  will  show  to 
the  world  and  to  the  Baptist  family  that  they  do  not 
need  to  be  ashamed  of  me." 

His  foster-mother,  the  American  Baptist  Publica- 
tion Society  has,  with  the  other  members  of  the 
family,  revealed  great  patience  with  him.  He  was 
young  and  full  of  life  and,  as  most  boys  are,  was 
liable  to  overstep  the  mark  of  propriety  at  times, 
and  thus  cause  his  mother  some  trouble.  He  would 
cut  up  a  few  pranks  and  be  a  little  too  forward  at 
times,  and  rather  hurt  the  feelings  of  his  brothers 
and  sisters,  but  his  mother  rebuked  him  kindly  and 
tried  to  hold  him  in  his  rightful  place.  She  ascer- 
tained nevertheless  that  his  heart  was  all  right. 


176  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

These  pranks  and  mistakes  were  simply  because 
he  had  too  much  life  and  "  go  "  in  him.  He  knew 
that  intense  activity  was  to  characterize  his  career 
on  earth,  and  that  he  was  made  to  go,  therefore 
one  can  easily  see  that  he  might  get  to  going  too 
fast  at  times.  He  never  really  intended  to  do 
wrong,  but  was  always  anxious  to  do  exactly  what 
the  family  wanted  him  to  do.  We  are  glad  to  state 
that  he  profited  by  his  mistakes  and  quickly 
revealed  his  true  worth. 

His  development  was  rapid.  Actually  marvelous. 
He  began  to  show  signs  of  great  strength  at  once, 
and  made  rapid  strides  toward  manhood.  He  soon 
left  his  baby  clothes  behind  him.  Before  the  other 
members  of  the  family  hardly  knew  it,  he  was  a 
great,  stout  boy,  and  now  at  fifteen  years  of  age 
he  has  matured,  and  is  taking  the  place  of  a  strong 
man  in  the  world.  He  has  certainly  won  his  way. 
The  transportation  companies  have  given  him  the 
use  of  their  highways.  He  is  welcomed  into  the 
best  of  society.  The  rich  and  poor,  the  high  and 
low,  all  love  him.  He  stands  so  erect  and  reveals 
such  strength  that  his  brothers  and  sisters  have 
given  him  an  exalted  place  in  the  family. 

He  has  asked  for  no  sentimental  tolerance  or 
pity,  but  by  hard  work  and  real  service  to  the 
denomination  and  the  kingdom  of  God,  has  proven 
his  sterling  worth.  In  all  humility  he  stands  before 
the  other  members  of  the  Baptist  household  and 
says  :  "  I  take  no  glory  to  myself.  My  inspiration 
has  come  from  the  great  need  about  me,  from  those 


WHAT  OF  THE   FUTURE  ?  177 

who  have  believed  in  me,  and  from  my  heavenly 
Father.  He  has  constantly  told  me  that  he  had 
confidence  in  me,  and  that  he  could  use  me  in  this 
sinful  world.  While  I  am  conscious  that  I  have  not 
reached  my  full  growth  yet,  I  am  pressing  toward 
that  mark."  He  bows  his  head  to  all  in  the  Baptist 
home,  and  thanks  each  one  for  his  consideration 
and  patience  with  him,  and  asks  that  all  pray  that 
God  might  make  him  more  useful  than  ever. 

THE  VISION  OF  THE   FUTURE  IS  INSPIRING 
AND  HOPEFUL 

The  future  has  much  in  store  for  us.  The  field 
is  white  to  the  harvest.  Jewels  and  gems  are 
lying  just  beneath  the  surface  in  hundreds  of  towns 
in  the  West.  Individual  buds  of  promise  are  all  ready 
to  blossom  into  beautiful  flowers  of  manhood  and 
womanhood  all  around  us.  Opportunities  for 
rescue  work  abound.  Everywhere  there  are  mar- 
velous possibilities  to  lay  solid  religious  foundations 
for  the  coming  generations.  The  command  from 
our  Captain  reads,  "  Go  ye,"  and  in  answer  to  this 
the  wheels  must  continue  to  turn.  The  Spirit  of 
God  is  with  us.  We  are  trusting  him.  On  speed 
these  chariots  of  salvation  until  "the  ransomed 
church  of  God  is  saved  to  sin  no  more." 

CHAPEL  CAR  HYMN 

Tune— "America." 

Sweep  on,  O  car  of  light, 
God  bless  thy  holy  flight. 


178  A  CHURCH  ON  WHEELS 

On  thy  wheels  bring 
Peace  to  the  troubled  breast, 
And  to  the  weary  rest ; 
Glad  for  thy  mission  blest, 

The  angels  sing. 

Roll  o'er  the  mountain's  height, 
Roll  o'er  the  waters  bright, 

The  distant  sea ; 
Visit  the  lonely  vale, 
Outfly  the  wintry  gale — 
Thy  errand  will  not  fail, 

God  moves  with  thee. 

Ride  on,  triumphant  Lord, 
Thy  Spirit  and  thy  word 

Shall  speed  thy  way  ; 
Scatter  the  shades  of  night, 
Command  "  Let  there  be  light," 
Gird  on  thy  sword  of  might 

And  win  the  day. 

Salvation's  chariot,  roll 
On,  till  from  pole  to  pole 

Christ  reigns  alone ; 
Till  darkness  turns  to-day. 
Till  earth  shall  choose  his  sway, 
And  all  its  trophies  lay 

Before  his  throne. 

— Rev.  S.  F.  Smith. 


Princeton  Theoloqical .Seminary  L'brar^^^ 


1    1012  01236   3794 


DATE  DUE 

...*««-^'^" 

OAVLORO 

rRINTBOIN  U    S    A 

